


Club Lily

by Redawilo



Series: Main Stuff [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Amnesia, I don't know how to tag this at all, MAY jump to E somewhere down the line, Multi, Silly, and for suggestive scenes, rated M for foul language
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-16
Updated: 2018-03-15
Packaged: 2018-12-16 00:14:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 25,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11817183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Redawilo/pseuds/Redawilo
Summary: This is a tale about Skiz, a young man who wakes in a strange place and finds himself with no memories of who he is. He is found by an odd group of ladies who together run a sort of host club for women. Each of them is not quite as they may seem initially, including Skiz himself. In other words, this is a silly story about Skiz learning how to live with seven eccentric women.This is one of several original works of mine!Updates the first Thursday of every month!





	1. Chapter 1

Pain. Pain was the first thing to register in the young man’s mind. The deep, throbbing ache must’ve been what brought him to consciousness. Having not yet opened his eyes, and still hazy from sleep, the young man could only focus on his discomfort. He let out a groan and rolled onto his side. He didn’t want to be awake yet, sleeping felt too good…

As he lay quietly, he suddenly got the feeling something wasn’t right. He tried to shake it off, but it persisted. Finally he opened his eyes, and immediately regretted it. The room he was in was dimly lit, but the lamp beside the bed had been right in his line of sight. Opening his eyes more carefully and averting them from the light, the young man blinked a few times to focus. Black. The walls containing him were painted black. This immediately did not feel right. He knew no black room, let alone one he would be asleep in. He tried to sit up quickly in shock, but immediately reeled in agony and clutched at his head. He felt it over with his hands, finding no apparent wound or bandaging until…there. Right there. There was a spot towards the back that felt especially tender to the touch. Although poking at it hurt, it quickly became apparent that it was not the source of his headache.

He raised his head again and scanned the room some more. The black walls and carpet and dim lighting made it difficult to determine the scale of the room, but it seemed a pretty decent size. On the wall the bed was against hung deep red curtains, blocking the window so he could not get a glimpse of where he was. However, there was a thin line of sunlight pouring in from the bottom, so he assumed it was daytime. Continuing to look around the room starting from the wall to his left, he found it to be sparsely decorated. There was a desk of some kind of dark wood with junk piled on it and no chair, and a short bookcase and a set of closet doors were beside it. On the wall opposite him was a door with a tall chest of drawers beside it. On the wall to his right was another door. That wall and the bed he was on had only a couple feet between it, so nothing else of interest was there. The bed he had been lying on was adorned in red sheets that matched the curtains. The pillow he had been using was white, however.

But more interesting than any of the décor was the stranger who was occupying a chair that the young man assumed normally belonged at the desk. It was a woman. She was sitting in the small space the wall and bed allowed, had her arms crossed on top of the bed, and had her head lying on them. She was sound asleep, breathing quietly and steadily. The young man shifted a little to get a closer look at her. She was odd, to put it lightly. Her hair was white as snow and tied back in a tight ponytail. By contrast her skin was black as coal, and sticking out from her head through the tightly bound locks were two black horns. The young man looked carefully and noticed that her fingernails were odd as well. They were black, as well as long and sharp like claws. From what he could see with his throbbing head and dim light, her face was fairly pretty.

The young man reached out to touch her shoulder and wake her, but he stopped just short of doing so. He didn’t know who she was, and no matter how much he wanted information he knew in his sore mind that he shouldn’t touch a sleeping woman, especially one that looked as strangely as she did. He retracted his hand and tried his voice instead.

“Excuse-” he stopped. His throat was dry and his voice hoarse. He cleared his throat a few times, trying not to be too loud about it despite his intent of waking the woman. When he was fairly confident in his ability to speak more properly, he tried again. “Excuse me. Miss? Could you wake up?” the woman stirred, but didn’t open her eyes. “Hello? Miss? I have something I need to ask you.”

She groaned softly and gently raised her head. “I hear you, I hear you…” she muttered, sitting upright. She rubbed at her eyes before realizing something was amiss. “Oh!” she cried out, her gold eyes snapping wide open in surprise. “Oh I’m sorry, I must’ve fallen asleep!” she laughed, turning her attention to the young man. “That’s unusual for me. I never fall asleep unexpectedly.” She waited a moment, but the young man said nothing to that, so she spoke again. “You must be very confused.” He nodded.

“Yeah, that’s why I wanted to wake you. Could you tell me where I am and what I’m doing here?” he asked.

“I certainly can. You’re in a city called Plight. Do you know it?” he shook his head. “I see…that’s not a great sign, but we’ll deal with that shortly. You’re in a business establishment at the moment, although you are upstairs in the living quarters. My name is Aurora, but you may call me Rory. What are you called?”

The young man hesitated a moment. It wasn’t that he couldn’t remember his own name, but rather that it took him just a split second too long for it to pop into his mind and to say it. He wondered if the woman had noticed it just as he had. “Skiz.”

“Skiz? Well, it isn’t the oddest name I have ever heard. It’s nice to meet you, Skiz.” Aurora didn’t give him a chance to respond. “Are you feeling okay? Anything hurt, or any nausea, or…?”

“My head hurts really bad.” He said immediately.

“Your head? I did see there was a small bump, but it didn’t look that bad. Was I wrong?”

“No. I felt where that was and while it is a little tender, it’s not that. It’s like I have this intense headache.” Skiz put his hand to his forehead for emphasis.

“A headache, huh? That might be in part of dehydration. Here.” Aurora reached beside her and picked up a pitcher of water from the other table beside the bed and poured some into a glass that had been waiting with it. “Can you drink?”

“I think so, yeah.” He said, taking the glass from her carefully. His hands weren’t shaking, and he could grip it securely just fine. He knew his throat had been dry, but he surprised himself when after the first swallow he just kept going until the glass was completely empty. He really had been dehydrated.

Aurora took the glass from him and refilled it. “Drink this one a bit slower.” She chuckled, handing it back to him. “Pardon me a moment, I want to check your temperature.” He held still while the woman reached out and placed the back of her hand to his forehead, his cheek, and his then against his neck. It felt oddly warm, especially because Skiz didn’t feel chilled. She hummed happily and withdrew her hand again. “Good, you don’t have a fever and you don’t seem to have suffered too much damage. You’re moving just fine and can swallow alright. And you said you weren’t feeling nauseous?”

Skiz had taken another large gulp while she was talking. “Yeah.” He muttered. “It’s just my head.”

“Well, give yourself about a half hour to see if the water helps, but let me know if you are still feeling poorly.” She instructed. “Now I have another question for you.”

“I’ve got a few for you, too.”

She nodded. “I understand that, but let me go first, please. Do you remember what happened to you?”

Skiz tried to think about it, but drew a complete blank. Trying harder to recall anything only made his head hurt even worse. With a grunt of pain he shook his head. “No, not at all.”

“I see.” Aurora turned her gaze away from him and mulled this over briefly. “Phen found you out back in the alley behind the building. You were completely passed out and half atop our back step. At first we thought you were a drunk who hadn’t made it home, so we were going to wake you and call a cab. But you wouldn’t stir at all. Of course then the next thing would have been to call an ambulance, but Narabus advised against that the moment she laid eyes on you. She said that a hospital ~~wouldn~~ ’t know what to do with you. So we took a vote and decided to bring you inside and monitor you. That was yesterday morning. It’s almost noon now. You’ve been out for over twenty-four hours. Phen was keeping an eye on you at first, but she got tired and so I traded with her about…oh about ten hours ago. Although I fell asleep, so it’s not like I was doing a much better job.” She smiled a little at her own goof. “So, Skiz, anything you want to know that I haven’t told you yet?”

Skiz had to think about it. Aurora had managed to cover the “how did I get here” and “how long have I been out” parts that were his first concerns. He was surprised to find that thinking in and of itself didn’t aggravate his headache more, but the moment he tried to remember how he ended up on the back step caused a sharp pain to cross his mind again. Aurora cast him a concerned look, but he shook his head. “No, I can’t think of anything.” He replied.

“Is your headache that bad? I’m sorry.” Aurora stated. “I shouldn’t have made you-”

“No, it’s fine. It wasn’t anything do to with that.” He half-lied. “Um, you mentioned there were other people here?” He asked, reaching for anything he could to divert the subject away from his pain.

“There are six of them besides me, and they’re all women. Again, this is a business establishment, although we only work downstairs and we all live on the two floors above it. That’s where we are right now, on the third floor. You’re in my room, actually.”

Skiz wasn’t entirely surprised. He hadn’t yet gotten a good look at the woman aside from her face, but she seemed like the type who would match the décor of the room perfectly. “Oh, I see.” He said dumbly, not sure how to respond to that news. Although it did make him feel a little awkward, knowing that he was in a woman’s bed, especially when he had first found her asleep beside it. “Um, I’m sorry?” he offered.

“It’s no trouble.” She laughed. “I never sleep in here, anyway. Normally I crash on one of the couches downstairs.”

“That doesn’t sound healthy.”

She gave a shrug. “When you need as little sleep as I do, you tend to not really care where you nap as long as it is comfortable.” Choosing to end that subject, she asked him another question. “Speaking of sleep, how are you feeling now that you’ve been awake a few minutes?”

“I still feel the same as before.”

“I see. Would you like to rest some more? You look like you could use it.” Skiz considered this only briefly. His eyelids did feel a bit heavy still, and while he could think clearly there was a bit of a haze left over in his mind. He gave her a nod. “Alright, then you can go ahead and do so. I’ve got to speak with the others anyway. If you want, I’ll have Phen bring you some painkillers. She’s very quiet and won’t bother you if you’ve fallen asleep.”

“That’d be great, thanks.”

“Of course. Get some rest; I’ll be back around one in the morning to check on you again. If you wake up before then, you’re welcome to use the restroom,” she pointed to the door behind her, “and take a bath or a shower if you want. There are towels under the sink you can use. And if you are feeling up to it, you can browse my book collection. Other than that, I ask that you do not leave the room. Okay?”

Of course Skiz didn’t understand why he wasn’t allowed to leave, but assumed it might be because the people living there didn’t want a stranger just up and wandering around their home. He didn’t ask and just nodded.

“Sleep well, then. Phen will be up shortly with your painkillers, so take them when you’re ready. Want me to kill the light?” Aurora asked, getting to her feet.

“Please.” He set his now-empty glass beside the pitcher again.

She stepped out from the narrow place she had been sitting and made her way around the bed. Skiz watched her and couldn’t help but notice how tall she was. Skiz himself was nearly six feet, and unless the bed he was in was very short or his eyes were messed up from sleep Aurora was even taller than that. He couldn’t quite think of why, but that there was a woman taller than him felt especially bizarre. Combine that with the already strange way she looked, and was that a _tail_ she had now that he got a better look at her, it was certainly one more thing to tell him that she was distinctly not any sort of creature he had ever seen.

His observations of her were cut short as she clicked off the lamp and wished him to sleep well before slipping out through the door across from the bed. He got a quick glimpse of her silhouette in the doorway before she closed it behind her, and it only served to confirm that she was indeed quite tall.

Deciding it was best not to think too much on it for the time being; Skiz laid back down and made himself as comfortable as he could. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to fall asleep that quickly, but he found that he barely registered somebody coming in and leaving something on the table beside the lamp some minutes later. After that, he was out completely.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time to meet four more of Club Lily's seven wonderful ladies~

“I don’t care if you think he’s a good person; I don’t want him in our building!”

“Be reasonable, Anthony! He’s wounded and confused. Let him rest and we’ll send him on his way when he’s feeling better. We don’t need a lawsuit on our hands.”

“Lawsuit or not, it’s always been our code not to let men in here.”

“What about Wolfgang and Gai?”

“…During business hours, of course.”

“Personally I don’t really care. As long as he behaves himself, I see no reason why we can’t keep an eye on him. You’re willing to give up your room, right Rory?”

“Of course. I never use it anyway.”

“Then there’s no problem.”

“There is too a problem, or have the rest of you forgotten why I agreed to start this whole thing in the first place?”

“You and Kaylee are the only ones arguing this. At least meet him first.”

“No way! Look, the rest of you can go crazy over this guy, but I’m not going to. In fact, I plan on getting drunk off my ass tonight then passing the hell out in Kaylee’s room.”

“Anthony…”

“What? You don’t wanna meet him either, right?”

“I don’t but you could at least go to your own room.”

“Not a chance.”

“You two can flirt later. Let’s put it to a vote: do we let Skiz stay until he is feeling better? I am for this.”

“I’m alright with that.”

“Hell no!”

“Sure, I’d like to meet him.”

“I want to meet him too!”

“I’d rather not.”

“Being the only one that’s spoken to him, I am all for letting him stay a while.”

“Then it’s settled. Rory, having him come downstairs once he’s awake.”

“Can do!”

“Ugh, I don’t even want to look at him.”

“Fine, you and Kaylee can go back to your rooms after work and meet him later.”

***

Skiz woke again sometime later. His head still hurt, but he managed to bite back the pain in order to sit up and look around again. There was no clock in the room that he could see, but the thin strip of light under the curtains was gone so he assumed it was night now. Fumbling around on the end table beside him he found the base of the lamp. He shielded his eyes with one hand and flipped the switch. Slowly he lowered his hand as his eyes got used to the light.

Sitting beside the lamp were half a dozen small red pills with a note beneath them telling him, in very cute handwriting, to take no more than two every six hours. He felt grateful to whoever had delivered them, Phen if he recalled correctly, for giving him more than one dose. He picked up two of the tiny tablets and poured himself another glass of water to take them.

After downing the rest of his glass, he took another look around the room. He had no idea what time it was, but remembered that Aurora had said she would check on him around one in the morning. At the time he hadn’t paid much attention to it, but thinking about it now made him realize what an odd time to have said. He decided that he may as well try to kill some time by getting a shower. He got up from the bed, taking care when standing to make sure he was steady. As he walked to the door on his right, he could just barely hear noise coming from outside the room. He crept over to the door where Aurora had left through instead and put an ear to it.

He couldn’t make out a single distinct sound, but he heard a lot of voices. Chattering, laughter, a little bit of singing… It sounded like there were many more than seven people somewhere downstairs. Aurora had told him that it was a place of business down there, but he couldn’t think of what sort of business would be so noisy. Perhaps it was a restaurant? Maybe a bar? Seven women… Maybe it was some sort of weird fetish café. Aurora sure did look strange enough; maybe those horns and tail were part of a costume. Skiz couldn’t help but frown at the thought. Far be it from him to judge what people did for a living, but being picked up and nursed back to health by a bunch of perverts was not the sort of story he would want to tell to his grandchildren. He was about to move away from the door when something clicked in head: all the voices he could pick up from downstairs were female. So…maybe it wasn’t some perverted café. He pulled his ear away, still clueless as to what was going on downstairs.

The hot water running over him in the surprisingly spacious bathroom did wonders for both his being awake as well as his headache, or perhaps that was the painkillers kicking in. All he knew was that by the time his shower was done, he practically felt like a new person. He hadn’t been long, but he noticed that the noise level drifting up from downstairs had lessened enormously. He could see light coming from under the other door now and wondered if things were being wrapped up. He spotted a light switch on the wall beside the door and flipped it, illuminating the room fully. With the new lighting, he made his way over to the bookshelf.

It was lined with titles he had never heard of before, and many of them were obviously not in a language he understood. He found one of them titled “UnderWorld Domains” and pulled it from the shelf. It was less of a book and more of a notebook written in blue ink and flowery handwriting. He flipped through the pages, awed by how detailed the hand-drawn maps and paragraphs describing everything were. He wondered if Aurora had a hobby of creating fantasy worlds and if this was one of her projects. He didn’t get to look through the entire notebook because as he flipped back to the start of it he heard a door slam on the floor beneath him and a moment later a knock came at the door of the room he was in. He quickly put the notebook back just before it opened.

“Oh, you’re awake!” Aurora said happily as she stepped inside. “And you’re out of bed, and your hair is damp. I take it you’re feeling better?”

“I am, thanks. My head still isn’t a hundred percent, but the painkillers really helped.”

“That’s great to hear. How long have you been up?”

Skiz glanced around, but remembered there wasn’t a clock in the room. “I…don’t really know. Thirty, forty minutes maybe? I took a shower and was just looking at your books here.” He replied, gesturing to the bookshelf.

“Then I came up at a good time. It’s a little before one, but things got cleaned up downstairs quicker than I expected. If you’re feeling up to it, I’d like you to come downstairs so you can meet the others. They’re all curious to see how you’re doing…most of them.”

Having nothing to do besides exploring the contents of the notebook he had found, Skiz agreed to go downstairs with Aurora. She held the door open for him and allowed him to step past her and out into the hallway. There were three other doors in the hall besides the one leading to Aurora’s room. At the end of the hall there was a string hanging from the ceiling that Skiz assumed was attached to stairs that led to an attic. On the other side of the hall, closer to Aurora’s room, was the staircase leading downstairs. The next floor down was almost a carbon copy, with four doors and another staircase going down another floor. Aurora led him along and down both sets of stairs to the ground floor.

The first part of the bottom floor Skiz saw was a wide hallway leading to the glass front doors and windows. Along one wall were a few bulletin boards with colorful, mostly handwritten signs detailing something he couldn’t see from the distance he was to them. At the end of them, nearest to where he stood at the bottom of their stairs, was a large, decorative doorway. On the other side of the hall were eight little mailboxes with another bulletin board, this one being much less flashy with its contents. Standing mostly opposite the decorative doorway was a smaller one with an actual door. He got a quick peek inside it and discovered it was a kitchen, but was quickly motioned to go through the other doorway.  He obliged.

He was surprised to find that he was in a large, wide open room covered in a vast array of couches, armchairs, and coffee tables. There appeared to be four different sections if the colorations of the furniture were anything to go by. Before he could get a better look around, his attention was called towards one corner by the pleased outcry of a young girl who had noticed his presence.

She was incredibly short, easily less than five feet tall. She hurriedly got to her feet and nearly skipped over to him, a bright smile splitting her face in two. Aside from her cute size and features, Skiz could easily see that her ears were just a little long and pointed at their tips. Three other women had been sitting with her and each got up from their seats and followed after her.

“You’re awake! I’m so glad! I was worried you were seriously injured.” The short girl stated, looking up at him. “Are you feeling alright? No broken bones, no illness?” she asked with wide eyes.

“Oh, um, no, I’m fine.” Skiz replied, a little taken aback by her concern. “Just a headache.”

She breathed a deep sigh of relief. “Thank goodness…”

A woman slightly taller than Skiz stepped up beside the girl and plopped her hand down on her head, ruffling her hair affectionately. “Relax, you’re overwhelming him.” She told her. Looking back up to Skiz, she cast him a friendly smile. “Although it is good to hear that you’re doing alright.”

The other two stood to the other side of the girl. They looked like they could be twins, although one was just taller than the other and had green eyes while the other had purple. The shorter woman was dressed all in black while the taller was wearing all white, too.

“So, Skiz, let’s start with the introductions.” Aurora stated, coming to stand beside him. “You remember my name, right?” she asked him.

“You’re Aurora, or Rory.” He replied.

“It’s Rory.” She told him with a smile. In the better lighting, Skiz took the chance to look her over better. She was indeed taller than him by half a foot, which was exaggerated even more by the heels she wore. Her horns and tail were also as present has they had been before. Despite her height and odd appearance she was quite beautiful to behold. “Good. So let’s go around the circle shall we? First is Michele.”

The shorter of the two girls nodded her head slightly. Skiz didn’t really know what to do to that so he mimicked her awkwardly. Her face was emotionless. In addition to being on the shorter side, her frame looked frail and almost scrawny. Despite that, she was quite poised.

“Beside her is Rachele.”

“Hello!” the green-eyed girl sang happily. She was actually pretty average in her size, although Skiz could tell that she had a lot of muscle on her. Weirdly, he also got the feeling that her eyes were not quite looking him in the face.

“Hi.”

“And of course the tiniest member of our group is Phen.” Aurora chuckled, introducing the over-eager girl.

“Oh, you’re the one who found me.” Skiz stated, looking at the short girl.

“I am. You really surprised me! I mean, we’ve had a drunk or two turn up out back in that alley, but you’re the first who was actually on our back step.” She replied.

“Um…sorry for troubling you?”

“No, no! It’s okay. I really am glad you’re feeling better.”

“You’ve already said that, Phen.” The taller woman said with a laugh. She stepped forward and extended a hand to Skiz. “I can introduce myself, I’m Narabus. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

This woman was almost the exact opposite of Aurora. Her skin was nearly deathly pale and her hair jet black. If one were to say that Aurora exuded an air of beauty, then Narabus was the picture of handsome. When Skiz took her hand to shake it, she surprised him by instead raising his hand to her lips and giving it a gentle kiss while keeping eye contact with him. Skiz had no idea how to react and could only gape dumbly. He could tell Michele was rolling her eyes and Phen was giggling. Beside him, Aurora sighed heavily.

“Narabus, give him half a chance to get to know you first.” Aurora told her.

“Oh, like you haven’t made any passes at him.” She laughed, letting go of Skiz’s hand and instead stepping closer to her. “Now let me take a guess… He was feeling unwell, and you were there when he woke. So…” she reached up and placed the back of her hand against Aurora’s forehead. “You decided to check his temperature as an excuse to touch him.”

“I checked his temperature to make certain he had no fever.” Aurora replied. Her tone wasn’t defensive, but rather teasing, perhaps challenging. Narabus’s hand fell to her cheek and then slid down to her neck. “Uh-huh. I doubt that was all you were doing.”

“Would I really make a move on an unwell stranger? Besides, you would have put your own forehead to his, wouldn’t you?”

Narabus shot her a grin as she removed her hand and took a step back. “Of course I would have. I’m honestly surprised you were so kind as to not invade his personal space even more.”

Michele cleared her throat just then, causing the two women to stop with their chatter. “In case you two haven’t noticed, you are making our guest uncomfortable.” Contrary to her expression and demeanor, Michele’s tone was full of playful sarcasm.

Both women looked down at Skiz to find him a little colored in the cheeks and having put a couple of steps between him and them. Both of them cast him apologetic smiles.

“Don’t worry about them.” Michele told him. “They’re both huge flirts, but they’re harmless. They’re more likely to hit on each other than on you.”

“In other words, they don’t bite.” Rachele giggled.

“Don’t lie.” Narabus told her sharply.

“I do.” Aurora muttered at the same time, grinning.

Clearing noticing that Skiz’s comfort level hadn’t gotten any better, Phen decided it was her turn to step in. “Skiz, are you hungry? I was just about to make dinner. Care to join me?”

Feeling that any excuse to get away from the two women who were just talking about making passes at him, Skiz admitted to feeling hungry and Phen led him out of the room. Michele cast Narabus and Aurora a look before letting out a sigh.

“Try not to make him more uncomfortable than he already is. Waking in a strange place must be bad enough. He doesn’t need the two of you trying to hit on him.”

“Right, sorry.” Aurora said.

“I’ll try to be on my best behavior.” Narabus stated.

“I’ll believe that when I see it. C’mon Rachele, let’s go to bed.”

“Of course.”

Michele left the room, Rachele right on her tail. Aurora and Narabus glanced at each other and smirked. Things were about to become even more fun around their home and place of business.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time to get some answers, and to get to know a few of the ladies a little bit better!

“I just happened to think…” Narabus muttered, taking a seat in one of the many armchairs in the main room downstairs. “Is Skiz aware that you’re a-”

“Probably not, most people don’t make that assumption right away.” Aurora interrupted, unceremoniously dropping onto a couch across from her and stretching out along it. “But if he ever says anything, of course I will correct him right away. He’s not one of our customers so there’s no reason for me to hide it from him.”

“Well, better to explain it sooner rather than later.”

“Of course, but I see no reason to go out of my way.”

Narabus shrugged. “Up to you, I guess.”

***

The kitchen of the building was quite large. Everything from the stovetop, to the oven, to the sink, and all cooking utensils that Skiz could see looked expensive and well made. In addition, an entire corner was occupied by two refrigerators and a freezer. Taking his look of bewilderment as a sign, Phen indicated for him to take a seat on one of the stools at the island counter. He did.

The countertops were covered in dishes that needed to be cleaned, as well as trays containing what was left of foods that had apparently been served. Everything appeared to be more like snacks than actual meals, from what Skiz could gather. So that scratched the restaurant idea off the list of what the place could be. He watched quietly as Phen hurried around the kitchen, gathering uneaten sandwiches, cookies, crackers, vegetables, and whatever else onto one tray. She retrieved a half-empty pitcher of tea from one of the refrigerators and poured a couple of glasses. With everything in hand, she made a little room on the island and set everything before Skiz and climbed up into a stool beside him.

“I’m sorry about feeding you leftovers like this, but I don’t have the energy to make anything fresh right now.” She frowned, setting one of the glasses in front of each of them. “I promise I’ll make something more substantial for breakfast, though. I usually do. It’s just that we can’t serve anything the day after something has been out of the refrigerator, so if any of us wants something to eat after work, we clean up the leftovers. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Right now food is food, and everything looks wonderful.” Skiz groaned, picking up one of the modestly sized sandwiches.

A giggle bubbled up from Phen. “Great! Then feel free to dig in!”

Skiz scarfed down the first piece of food faster than he had drunk his first glass of water when he woke up. He realized he hadn’t actually tasted any of it, and so when he picked up a handful of carrots he tried to eat them a bit slower. His actions earned another giggle from Phen as she joined him.

A few minutes passed in silence, Skiz finally sating the huge appetite he hadn’t been aware he had, and Phen not entirely sure what to try and talk about. Fortunately for her, the guest thought of something that he felt he ought to address.

“So, how long am I supposed to be staying here?” he asked.

The small girl hummed to herself and shook her head. “Sorry, I know a lot about what goes on in this place, but that’s a question I don’t know the answer to. Rory or Narabus would know. You should ask one of them. They’re both up pretty late, so you should still be able to speak with them after you’re done eating.”

Skiz frowned at the thought of talking to either of them again. Sure, they seemed friendly enough, but if he had understood correctly the both of them had tried to hit on him already. And then there was that flirting they had been doing with each other. He really had no idea how to handle either of them or their actions. He decided that rather than dwell on the uncomfortable, he should change the subject.

“Speaking of Rory, I think she said there were seven of you. I don’t think I’ve met everyone?”

“Sh-she did?” Phen stuttered. A look of consideration crossed her features, but only briefly. “Ah, yes…right… Um… Seven of us… Oh! That would be Anthony and Kaylee! Yeah, about them…”

“Anthony? Rory said everyone else here was a woman.”

“Right. Rory didn’t lie. Despite her name, Anthony’s female. Something about her parents choosing her name before she was born. You’ll have to ask her about it, although I doubt you’ll get the chance.”

Skiz raised an eyebrow.

“You see, Anthony and Kaylee aren’t exactly fond of men. They have their reasons. I could tell you, but I don’t feel right talking to people about things like that without their permission. Um, if I were to hazard a guess, you’ll probably meet them later today. They went to their rooms early tonight to avoid meeting you.”

_“Well, it seems like I won’t get much information from Phen.”_ Skiz thought to himself. _“That’s a shame, she certainly seems like she might be the nicest and easiest one to talk to here.”_

Wracking his brain for a topic that Phen would actually be able to keep up a conversation about, Skiz remembered one more odd thing that he was incredibly curious about.

“So…what about Rory? Are those horns and that tail real? And all that other strangeness about her?” he asked.

Phen chuckled and took a moment to chew and swallow the mouthful of sandwich she had just bitten into. “Oh that? Yeah. You see, everyone here is a little strange in their own way. Rory just happens to be a demon! So those horns, and the tail, and claws, and black skin? Yeah, those are all real, and entirely natural.”

Skiz’s brow wrinkled in confusion. “Is that what demons look like?”

The girl shrugged. “Apparently. Rory says most demons have features like those. I’ve only seen a couple myself, but from what I can tell the story checks out.”

“Weird. That is not at all what I imagined a demon to look like. And you said everyone here is ‘strange’?”

“We are! I happen to be an elf, you see.” Phen pointed to her ears. “That’s why I’m so small. You might not believe this, but I’m actually fully grown. In fact, I’m nineteen! I’m still the youngest person here, though.”

“Wait, really? I would have guessed you were still a child.”

“Nope!” she laughed. “We elves are just very youthful. Oh, and while we’re on the subject, Narabus is a vampire.” When Skiz cocked his head to one side, Phen elaborated. “You know, a vampire. She bites people on the neck and sucks their blood for sustenance.”

“Bites them…on the neck?” his cheeks turned just a fraction pinker.

“Well, she can bite them anywhere, but most vampires choose to bite the neck. They like to use the intimacy of it to help lure in their prey. That’s what she says, anyway. Before you ask, though, not all of us aren’t human. But don’t let that fool you; we’re all unusual in our own ways.”

Another lull in conversation occurred, and during it Skiz finished off his glass of tea and the tray of food was cleared entirely. Phen collected their glasses and took the tray and got down from her stool. She informed him that she had cleanup to do and was then going to be off to bed. If Skiz wanted, now would be the time to go and talk to Aurora and Narabus again. He offered to help her with the dishes, but she waved him off, not wanting a guest to have to do work.

Having nothing else to do, Skiz left the kitchen and crossed the hallway into the main room again. He found the two women seated opposite each other and hesitated a moment. Narabus noticed him enter, and when she turned her head to greet him Aurora followed her gaze. The demon smiled at him and sat upright, offering Skiz the seat next to her. Reluctantly he sat down, entirely uncomfortable with the whole situation.

“Are you feeling better now with something in your stomach?” Aurora asked him.

“Much better, thank you.” He replied nervously. “Um, so you’re a demon?”

“I am. Did Phen tell you that?”

“She did. Was she not supposed to? She seemed like she was worried about telling me too much about all of you.”

Aurora chuckled. “No, what she told you is fine. I don’t really consider it a secret. I don’t even try to hide my horns when I work, you know. I’m not concerned about letting humans know what I am.”

“Neither am I.” Narabus grinned, showing off her sharp canines. “I assume Phen informed you that I’m a vampire?” Skiz nodded. “Wonderful! Oh, but don’t you worry, I’m very picky about my meals. You see, the stereotype is that vampires bite virgin women, but that’s not all we can prey upon. They’re just the ones who taste the best. I don’t much like the blood of men, to be honest.”

Hearing that calmed Skiz just a little. She wouldn’t bite him, it seemed, but that didn’t stop her from flirting with him still. So he was still unsure of how to interact with her and Aurora. As if sensing his discomfort, Aurora flashed him a grin as well, and Skiz couldn’t help but notice that she too possessed some very sharp fangs, and she had more of them to boot!

“Narabus may be picky, but I’ll bite just about anyone. You see, I happen to be a half-breed. So she isn’t the only blood sucker in this building.”

Skiz shifted another inch away from the tall demon, and both women laughed. “Right. Um… So Phen told me to ask you this since she didn’t know…” he said, desperate to distract them from the thought of sucking his blood. “How long am I supposed to stay here?”

Aurora hummed and leaned back against the arm of the couch. “That’s hard to say. You see, when you didn’t respond we thought to call an ambulance and have you sent to the hospital. But Narabus stopped us.”

Skiz turned a confused gaze to the vampire woman. She elaborated for him. “I could tell just from your scent that a hospital would do you no good.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “I don’t know what you are; I’ve never smelled anything like you. I know one thing though, and that is that you are not human. I know the scent of my prey. A human hospital would have no idea what to do with you.”

Aurora nodded in agreement. “Being less picky, I didn’t realize it right away. But as soon as she mentioned it, I noticed it too that you weren’t human. So while we’re on the subject, just what _are_ you?”

The blank stare Skiz gave them spoke volumes. Try as he might, he couldn’t think of an answer for them. The moment he tried to remember what he was, his head throbbed painfully. His headache had gone away completely now, so it couldn’t have been that which was messing with his ability to think. Aurora gave him a few seconds to answer, and when he didn’t, she shook her head.

“That’s not good…” she whispered to herself. “Well to answer your initial question, I think we ought to let you rest some more first and foremost. We can’t let you leave until we’re certain that you’re well or we’d be liable for any problems. Since you cannot even recall what species you are, I’m worried you’ve got some unseen damage. So I really cannot say when you’ll be allowed to go.”

That made sense. The more Skiz thought about it, the more he realized he could barely recall anything from before he woke up in Aurora’s bed. He remembered stars. A lot of stars. And also grand, expensive looking décor. But even those were only flashes.

Narabus got to her feet and stretched her arms above her head. With a groan of satisfaction she said, “If you can’t remember right now, don’t worry about. I’ve heard temporary amnesia is common when somebody’s suffered something traumatic.”

“We aren’t sure he has, though.” Aurora pointed out. “He has no serious injury that we can see. And while I’ve heard that story too, never in my life has that ever applied to anything more than not remembering the accident that caused the damage.”

“Aw, c’mon, don’t say that. You’ll worry him.” The vampire laughed. “See?”

Skiz was indeed worried. He really couldn’t remember anything and that unnerved him greatly now that he realized it. Narabus breathed a sigh and spoke to Aurora.

“As much as I would like to stay up and discuss this, I don’t think we’re going to get very far right now. I’m going to bed.”

“Alright. Sleep well.” Aurora told her.

Narabus braced herself with a hand on the back of the couch and leaned down to kiss the demon woman. Skiz couldn’t help but stare in awe at the sight, although he tried to act with some dignity and behave as casually as possible. Narabus bid him good night and left the room. She had apparently run into Phen in the hallway, as Skiz could hear the two of them greet each other and climb the stairs together.

“Erm, don’t take this the wrong way but…” he turned to Aurora. “Are you two a couple?”

“Who? Narabus and I? Of course not.” Aurora chuckled. “We are _very_ close, though.”

“So is that _normal_ around here?”

“How do you mean?”

“You know… Women kissing each other?”

The laughter that sprang forth from Aurora startled Skiz. He had no idea what could be so funny, but apparently something had been. He had no choice but to wait for her to calm down, which she did relatively quickly despite the fit she had had.

“Oh my lord, Narabus was right! You really don’t know!”

“So it is?” Skiz asked, horribly confused.

“That’s not what I’m laughing about.” Aurora stated. “You don’t understand: I’m not a woman.”

Unconsciously Skiz’s eyes flicked down over Aurora’s body. Long hair, fair features, narrow shoulders, a slim waistline, wide hips, long legs…even his hands were smooth and slender. Heck, his voice and clothing were incredibly feminine too. He had only taken a glance, but Aurora was all too aware of everywhere he had just skimmed over with his eyes.

“Despite how I look, sound, dress, and act: I am all man.” Aurora assured him. “Because of my work I do play up the femininity a bit, but most of this is just how I am.” He shifted on the couch and leaned in close to Skiz, casting him a wicked smirk. “Do you believe me, or would you like to check down south to make sure?” he purred.

Skiz had never stood up and moved away from where he had just been seated so quickly. “No! That’s quite alright! I’ll believe you!” he shouted.

Aurora let out a bark of a laugh and stretched out on the couch once more. “Why don’t you go lie down again?” he suggested. “I know you’ve been asleep for a long time, but I’m going to be the only one awake until much later in the morning. I can tell you don’t want to spend all that time around me. So at least try and get some more rest. You’re welcome to come back down at any time, though.”

Skiz nodded. He really didn’t know what else to do. He remembered the book he had found and decided he might try and read some of it if he couldn’t sleep. Before he could say good-night and depart, however, Aurora had one more teasing comment for him.

“Now, can you make it upstairs on your own, or do you need me to carry you again? I must say, you make an adorable ‘bride’.”

The mental image of being carried by Aurora across a threshold like a newlywed was enough to make Skiz shudder. “I think I’m good.” He mumbled. Without another word, he left to find his way back to Aurora’s room. Only briefly did he let himself dwell on the fact that he was staying in the strange man’s bedroom.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The full main cast is finally assembled!

Back upstairs in Rory’s room, or maybe now his room, Skiz once more extracted the notebook from its place on the bookshelf and sat down at the desk to give it a more in-depth read. What he at first thought to be nothing but fantasy, he began to get the feeling was very real. Since Rory was a demon, and the notebook detailed the “UnderWorld”, he wondered if it was talking about the actual place the man came from. What could be considered the first chapter was entirely about a region covered in dense forests and ruled over by somebody named Mikaru. After that, it talked not only about the geography of other places, but also what the lords and citizens were like, as well as their cultures in general. It was fascinating to think about what it must be like. Skiz was already in a place he didn’t know much about, but a part of him wondered if it would turn out to be as alien as what he was reading.

He read through a couple dozen pages before yawning loudly. He blinked a few times, feeling his eyelids heavier than he expected. Once more he looked around to see what time it was, and grumbled about there still not being a clock no matter how many times he wished there was one. He had half a mind to ask if that was on purpose, if there had been one before but it had been removed when he was brought in, but decided against going downstairs to get an answer from Rory. The man still creeped him out a bit. Deciding that getting a nap couldn’t hurt, he set the notebook back where it belonged and flopped down onto the bed.

*****

“I’m gonna go shopping now! Does anyone need me to pick up anything?” Phen asked, poking her head into the main room from the hallway.

“Shopping?” Michele asked, looking up from the Jigsaw puzzle she and Rachele were putting together.

“I want to make a big lunch to welcome Skiz properly.” The elf said gleefully. “So I thought I’d ask in case there was something I should get while I was out.”

Michele and Rachele both thought for a moment before shaking their heads.

“If that’s the case, I’ll go do the shopping for you.” Rory stated, getting to his feet. “Do you have a list?” Phen nodded and held it out to him. He stepped forward and took it, skimming it over. “That’s a lot more than I was expecting. Definitely let me go, I don’t think you could carry all this.”

The elf pouted at him. “I’m stronger than I look, you know!”

“I meant carrying so many loaded bags would impair your movement. Not that you couldn’t physically carry that much weight.”

“Shall I go too?” Narabus asked.

“If you want.” Rory told her.

“Fine. If you two want to go, then I won’t stop you.” Phen said with a sigh before smiling up at them. “Thank you very much. It really is a help.”

The pair gathered what they needed to before heading out the front door. Phen watched them leave before taking a seat near the two remaining ladies and helping them with their puzzle. Rachele had a piece in one hand, turning it over in her fingers and feeling out the rest of what had been put in place in the process. After a moment she set it down on top of one of several neatly-made stacks and picked up another. Almost immediately she stuck it into place and Michele double-checked that it looked right.

A few minutes ticked by and heavy footsteps were heard coming down the stairs. In the hall, one set briefly stopped while the other went into the kitchen. The door of one of the refrigerators opened. When both parties finally entered the main room, no one was surprised to see the two women were both holding large glasses of water, one of which was massaging her forehead.

“Hungover?” Michele asked.

“Duh?” the one with her hand on her head grumbled. She sat down on one of the open sofas and chugged half her water down in one gulp. She let out a loud sigh and set her glass down on the coffee table and patted her lap. The other woman smiled and sat down where she had been told to. The hungover woman wrapped her arms around her and gave her a large, wet kiss on her cheek. “So is there a reason you haven’t made breakfast yet?” she asked Phen.

“I was going to make a big lunch for everyone, but I don’t have everything I need. Rory and Narabus went shopping for me a little bit ago.” She replied.

The woman blinked a few times, finding this to be odd. She scowled when she remembered what the reason probably was. “Don’t tell me you’re trying to make that man feel comfortable here.” She grumbled.

“I am!” Phen replied, meeting her gaze sternly. “You don’t have to like him, Anthony, but he is a guest and I am going to treat him just the same as I would any guest.”

Anthony rolled her eyes and curled her arms tighter around the woman on her lap. “Our other guests pay us.”

“Those are our patrons!” the elf sighed. “Why do you not have a problem with Wolfgang or Gai, but suddenly Skiz is a big deal?”

“I _do_ have a problem with them. _And_ Rory for that matter! But Rory proven himself decent time and again, Gai is harmless, and Wolfgang’s on a leash. You really don’t know anything about men, do you?”

“I know that not all men are disgusting pigs like you claim them to be.”

“You clearly have never been to my hometown.”

“You clearly haven’t realized you’re no longer in your hometown!”

“Ainy, Phen, please stop arguing.” The woman on Anthony’s lap sighed. “We’ve had this argument before. We won’t do anything to bother this ‘Skiz’ as long as he doesn’t bother us.” She looked Anthony in the eyes. “That’s the promise we made before going to bed. Right?”

Anthony grumbled. “Right… But that doesn’t mean I like it.”

“All I ask is that you two don’t hurt him.” Phen sighed.

“Yeah yeah. You have our word. As long as he doesn’t make any suspicious moves. Kaylee, could you hand me my glass?” The woman picked it up from the table and handed it to her. “Thank you, Dear.”

Almost half an hour later, at approximately eleven-thirty in the morning, Skiz came back downstairs. He peeked into the main room and saw that the two he was most worried about were not present. In their place, however, were the other two he was nervous about. Anthony and Kaylee, the two who did not like men, according to Phen. Stealing himself, he stepped into the room.

“Good morning…I think.” He stated.

Phen perked up upon seeing him and smiled broadly. “Good morning!”

Michele nodded his way and Rachele waved. The other two glared daggers at him. He hesitated and made to sit on one of the chairs near the three at their puzzle, but Kaylee spoke up and got his attention.

“So you’re Skiz?” she asked.

“Y-yes?” he replied.

She slid off of Anthony’s lap and the other woman stood up after her. Kaylee crossed the room and got right up into Skiz’s face. He leaned away a little by pure instinct. “I’ll say this now so Anthony doesn’t have to: we don’t care if the others have accepted you into our home. You do well to stay away from and not bother us. Put a single toe out of line, and either she or myself’ll gut you like a fish. Understood?”

Skiz frowned. “Uh…yeah… I think so.” He muttered, both confused and concerned about the threat.

Kaylee backed off and snuck her nose in the air. She turned on her heel and grabbed Anthony by the hand, leading her to the furthest corner of the room where they cuddled up once more on another couch. Skiz heard Anthony whisper “God, I love you so much!” to the woman who had been in his face. Unsure of what to do, he sat down where he had been intending to.

“Sorry about them.” Phen whispered just loud enough for him to hear.

“You weren’t kidding when you said they didn’t like men, huh?”

“They… They have their reasons.”

“So you’ve said.” He looked around again briefly. “Rory and Narabus aren’t here?”

“They went shopping for me. They should be back any minute now, actually. Once they are, I’m going to make lunch for everyone.”

Skiz’s mouth watered at the mere mention of food. What he had eaten earlier that morning had been tasty, and better than nothing on his empty stomach. But a freshly made meal that was actually meant to sate a person’s hunger? He would’ve been lying if he said he wasn’t looking forward to it.

“So Skiz, tell us about yourself.” Michele spoke up, fitting another couple of pieces that were already linked together into their places. “Or do you still not remember any of that?”

Skiz shook his head. “Sorry, I don’t.”

“That’s a shame. Makes it harder to find common ground to talk about.” She glanced up at him. “Mind if I ask you some questions then?”

“Uh, you’re welcome to, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to answer any of them.”

She nodded and skimmed over the pieces in front of her while she thought. “Let’s start with something simple then, if a bit childish. What’s your favorite dinosaur?”

Skiz blinked in confusion. “Favorite dinosaur?”

“Come now, everyone has a favorite. We may be adults, but that is something each of us has surely been asked about in our youths. Don’t tell me your amnesia has made you forget such a simple thing as that.”

He frowned. “No, it’s not that… What do you mean by ‘dinosaur’?”

Three sets of eyes all gave him the same look. It was a look that said, “Oh boy, this is going to be worse than we thought”. Michele shifted some pieces aside and brought others closer to get a better look at them.

“Dinosaurs are prehistoric beasts that roamed the Earth for millions, or trillions, of years before humans came to live on it. Our knowledge of them is limited, but most people have had an interest in them at some point in their lives. After all, there were many who were huge, as big or bigger than trees, and they came in all shapes and types. Common favorites include the tyrannosaurus, which is one of the large ones and ate meat, the triceratops, which was an herbivore that had three horns upon its head, and the velociraptor, which is a smaller carnivore that had feathers.”

Skiz stared at her, amazed at how much she was talking. “Do you like these dinosaurs?”

“Only as much as the next person.” She shrugged. “Which is to say, not particularly. Like I said though, it was a question that was meant to be simple to answer. Something to break the ice. Clearly it didn’t work as planned.”

“Well, they sound pretty cool.”

She nodded again. “For the record, I happen to like aerchyopteryx. It’s one of the first really bird-like dinosaurs.”

The front door opened and Rory announced that he and Narabus were back. Phen jumped up and hurried out into the hallway to meet them. Skiz could hear her giving what they had bought a quick once-over to make sure everything had been picked up as they went into the kitchen. Since neither of the two who had been out on the errand came into the main room, Skiz assumed they were helping the elf with her meal preparations.

When he looked back at the two he was left sitting with, he was surprised to find Michele watching him curiously.

“Wh-what?” he asked.

“Nothing.” She replied, returning her attention to the puzzle. “I was trying to think of something else to ask you about. I’m not the most social person, admittedly, but normally I do find this much easier to do.”

Rachele giggled. “Then let me ask something. What is your weapon of choice?”

“I like knives.” Skiz replied almost instantly.

There was a small glint in Michele’s eye. Rachele smiled brightly. “I’m more of a rapier person myself, but it seems you and Michele have something in common!”

“Not that I do a whole lot of fighting.” Michele muttered.

“Do you have any knives? I mean, ones meant for battle?” Skiz asked.

She nodded. “A pair of them. They were wedding gifts from Rachele, actually. I have them on display in my room. I’ll bring them down and show you sometime.”

“Wedding gifts?”

Michele raised her left hand up to show the silver ring she had on her finger. Skiz noticed that Rachele had a matching one. “Rachele and I are married. She’s my husband.”

Skiz gawked a bit more than he had meant to. Far be it from him to tell others how to live their lives or who to fall in love with, but he had not been expecting two women to be married. Let alone one as seemingly quiet as Michele.

“That’s… I mean… I see.” He muttered uselessly, not sure what to say.

“For the record, the lovebirds over there on the couch are engaged.” Rachele giggled. “Some people like to say this place is a den of lesbians.”

Well, that certainly explained the odd vibes Skiz had been feeling about the place since he first woke up. He still didn’t know the exact nature of what the place was, but if a phrase like that was something that was commonly applied to it then he most certainly was the odd man out. Literally. Well…except for Rory, although he supposed there was a story of some kind there. He decided not to ask, as he had a feeling it was one of those things that was best to question the person themselves about.

The three carried on this way for a little while. One would ask a question and might get an answer. They’d talk about or explain what the question was about. In the meantime, Skiz found himself idly poking at their puzzle and even managed to put three or four pieces into place. Despite them not having a whole lot of common ground to work from, he found the two were surprisingly easy to talk to. Michele was very calm in her mannerisms, if not a little standoffish, and not once did she smile or laugh, but Skiz got the feeling she was an honest person. Rachele on the other hand was a lot more expressive, but she was also quiet and preferred to chime in only when she had something she knew would add to the conversation. Their conversation was relaxing, he decided.

Phen skipped into the room and announced that lunch was ready. She, Rory, and Narabus carried several trays into the room and set everything out on one of the tables. The smell hit Skiz like a truck and he found himself standing to join them without thinking. The two women he was talking with came over as well, and Anthony and Kaylee reluctantly moved from their spot too, although they skill kept as far away from Skiz as they could.

“Dig in, everyone!” Phen said happily, gesturing to the plates, cups, and silverware. “Don’t be shy, Skiz, I made plenty for everyone!”

Being told not to be shy was one thing, seeing the way everyone eagerly got and filled their plates was what drove it home that he shouldn’t hold himself back. He didn’t know what half the food was, and Phen did her best to give him a quick explanation. He ended up taking a little of everything just to try it and that alone was almost too much for his plate. By the time he sat down to eat, everyone was already talking to each other and digging in. He poked his fork into the food and tasted it. He wasn’t sure if it was just his hunger or what, but everything he tried was delicious!

Between the friendly conversation going on around him and the good food, Skiz couldn’t help the small smile that tugged at the corners of his lips. The seven ladies, er…six and Rory, all seemed like nice enough people. Even the two who wanted to kill him were chatting whole-heartedly with the others. He could feel himself relaxing, if only just a little.

It was refreshing, somehow.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This time around, Skiz learns what it is the ladies do for a living.

As the afternoon began and everyone had had their fill of Phen’s cooking, the conversation shifted from trying to find out more about Skiz to business. Skiz listened to them curiously, trying to pick out what exactly they did for a living just from their chatter.

“Don’t forget, it’s Friday. Things are going to get busy tonight.” Phen stated, picking up the last of the dishes and heading into the kitchen to wash everything.

“Of course.” Anthony replied. “We got this. You worry about you.” As she spoke she cracked open a can of beer and chugged a good portion of it at once.

“You know, you might very well be the top earner if you cut back on the drinking.” Narabus sighed.

“Oh shut it! I _am_ top earner! You know our patrons love me.” Anthony declared, draping her arm around the back of the sofa where Kaylee was cuddled up next to her.

“If I recall, last month I was on top.” Aurora corrected with a smirk. “And before that was Narabus for two months, and myself again before that…”

Anthony rolled her eyes. “Only if you factor in the extra work you two do.”

“Extra work is never factored in.” Aurora pointed out.

“Would you three knock it off?” Michele sighed. “You have this discussion at the end of every month. Narabus, stop bringing this up. Anthony, I’m surprised we ever have _any_ alcohol in stock the way you drink. Rory, quit provoking her.”

The three who had just been scolded went quiet for a moment. Anthony took the opportunity to take another sip of her drink and to pull her fiancé closer. Narabus sighed deeply and got to her feet. She muttered something about going to her room to get a bath and wandered out of the main room. Now being the only one on the couch he sat on, Aurora stretched his legs out across the length of it. Skiz looked around the group, wondering if it would be appropriate to speak up.

He decided to chance it. “So uh… Is this some kind of bar or something?”

Around him several smirks got sent his way. Even Michele, whose face did not chance much when she emoted had the corner of her mouth turned up. The only different reaction he got was from Rachele, who was giggling.

“Not quite. Alcohol _is_ available to those patrons who are old enough to purchase it, but we do not run any sort of bar. It’s a special club.” Michele explained. “Not a night club, no, although those are common enough around these parts. Although…things _do_ get rowdy if we’re not careful.”

Skiz quirked an eyebrow in confusion. Aurora decided to spare him and stated that they are entertainers. That only made the young man even more confused.

“Are you strippers or something?” he asked, appalled.

A pillow that had been sitting on the sofa beside Kaylee was hurled directly into his face. To Skiz’s surprise it actually stung a little from how much force it had been chucked with. He fumbled and managed to catch it before it hit the ground. When he looked up again, he noticed that Anthony had leaned forward and had a hand in the pocket of her pants and Kaylee had an arm held in front of her to stop her. He felt his skin crawl, wondering just what the woman would have done had Kaylee not intervened with a relatively harmless pillow.

“Get your mind out of the gutter.” Anthony growled at him, sitting back on the sofa again. “Filthy animal…” she grumbled.

“If you lot would quit dancing around the issue, perhaps he would not draw unsavory conclusions.” Rachele chided. “Not that such work is reprehensible, but if you don’t want him to imagine it…” she sighed. “We run a hostess club exclusively for women. For a price, any female of at least sixteen years old may come in and be treated nicely and engage in conversation. It’s a way for them to relax and unwind after a hard day’s work without the presence of men. We listen to them, tell them stories, or play games with them. Anthony is especially fond of drinking games, if you couldn’t guess.”

Having it explained to him calmed Skiz’s mind considerably. He didn’t fully understand what a “hostess club” meant, but nothing Rachele had just said sounded _bad_. That didn’t stop him from muttering, “It really _is_ a den of lesbians,” under his breath.

“Not all of our customers are lesbians.” Aurora corrected him. “Plenty of them have boyfriends or even husbands. Their sexual orientation has nothing to do with their coming in here and enjoying themselves.” He spread his arms to indicate the entirety of the room around them. “Within these walls no one judges them. It is simply a place to relax and be entertained by fellow women. There is nothing homosexual about any of it.”

“Unless Anthony gets drunk.” Michele stated.

The woman in question narrowed her eyes at Michele. “Didn’t you just chew Narabus out for provoking me?”

“My apologies. I was merely making a statement that you often require one of us to come over and pry you off of Kaylee.”

“Yeah, you’re trying to pick a fight.”

While their bickering continued, Skiz lost himself in thought. From the sounds of it, everything was on the up and up. However it still did not stop him from thinking the establishment’s nickname was wholly appropriate. More than that, however, he felt more than a bit curious about the ‘extra work’ Anthony had mentioned. A part of him wanted to ask, but he got the distinct feeling that if he did then things would become even more awkward. It was weird enough to think that he was staying in a place that supposedly did not allow men in…even if Aurora was a man. He assumed that was something their patrons were not to know about.

Phen stepped back into the room and asked if somebody would help her out in the kitchen with prep work. Tired of her back-and-forth with Anthony, Michele volunteered and got to her feet. Rachele made to stand up with her, but the woman in black spoke up before she could.

“Skiz, would you join me?”

Having no reason not to, Skiz got up and followed the two women into the kitchen. He didn’t understand why he was being asked to help, but he supposed it was the least he could do while he was their guest. In the kitchen Phen had laid out a bunch of different ingredients on the island countertop. She asked them to help her cut everything up so that cooking would go more smoothly when the time came. Briefly Skiz wondered if Michele had asked him to help because he had said he liked knives.

“That is not the case. I did not know what Phen would have us doing.” Michele stated, walking over to the sink to wash her hands.

Skiz stood where he was, jaw hanging open in shock. The woman glanced over her shoulder at him, a little knowing smile on her face.

“I’m a psychic.” She stated matter-of-factly. “Do not worry, I generally do not pry into people’s thoughts. I only did so to you because it was already apparent what you were thinking.” She dried her hands and picked up the two knives Phen had gotten out for them and stepped aside so that Skiz could wash his own hands. “No, I asked you to join because I wished to speak with you a bit more. I assumed you would be more comfortable doing so away from the others.”

Skiz cracked a smile as he rinsed the soap from his hands. “You’re not wrong. You, Phen, and Rachele are much easier to talk to than the others. Not that I don’t think you’re all nice people.”

He might have caught Michele smiling at that, but she was turned away from him in such a way that he wasn’t sure. Phen however most certainly was beaming from once pointed ear to the other. Once his hands were dry, he asked what he was supposed to be doing. Michele beckoned him over and set one of the knives on the cutting board beside her.

“Cut up the vegetables.” Phen replied, seeing Michele beginning to slice up the meat she had set out. “I need to start baking, but if either of you have any questions, just ask.”

The three of them set to their work, and a light, casual conversation stirred itself up around the sounds of cutting, cracking eggs, and mixing. Occasionally unintelligible shouting could be heard from the main room which would usually cause Michele to shake her head and continue with what they were talking about.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And now it is time to see exactly what it is the ladies do during work hours~

Around four-thirty in the afternoon was when the general mood of the building shifted. Judging by the way the ladies all went about making sure the room was clean and the furniture in their proper places, Skiz gleaned that they would be opening soon. He was hardly surprised when he was informed that once they opened for business he would have to remain upstairs once more. He had assumed that would be the case when he found out their business was supposed to be a place for women to get away from men for a little while.

Phen made them a light meal, explaining that it was normal for the lot of them to snack on things throughout their shifts along with their guests. She offered to make Skiz a little platter to snack on as well while he was upstairs. Something about how happily she made the suggestion made it impossible for Skiz to turn down her hospitality.

When five-thirty rolled around, Aurora escorted Skiz back upstairs. He was sure he knew which room he would be staying in and could find it again on his own, so Skiz assumed that Aurora was doing to make sure he wasn’t going to try to pull any funny business. When they made it back to the room, Aurora spoke up.

“Business hours are from 6pm to twelve-thirty in the morning most nights.” He stated. “However on Fridays and Saturdays we run a bit longer, so somebody may not be able to come get you until after one. I know it must be pretty boring to be cooped up in one area for so long, but please do bear with it. If she can find a spare moment Phen may come up to check on you, but she won’t be able to stay very long.”

“That’s alright. You’re all busy and I get that I’m not exactly in the best area to be, well, a guy.” Skiz replied. “Speaking of which, how come you’re allowed to be here?”

Aurora chuckled. “Because I pass, do I not?” he asked, gesturing to himself a little. “I am male, yes, but I have a lot of practice posing as a woman. It can be fun, although generally I do prefer to be straightforward about my gender. However I must keep the fact that I am a man a secret from our guests.”

“Would it really be so bad if they knew?”

The man hummed in thought. “You know, I’ve asked myself that very question several times while working here. I don’t believe it would be ‘bad’ per se, but seeing as we have for over a year billed ourselves as a place for women, by women, that it may unsettle many of our regular guests for me to be honest with them.”

“I guess that makes sense.”

“Well, I really must get back downstairs. Make yourself at home in here while we’re working.”

“Thanks.”

Aurora closed the door behind him as he left and Skiz was suddenly faced with the burden of entertaining himself for several hours with very limited resources. He carried his tray of snacks to the desk and set it down there. He looked about the room, hoping to find something he may not have seen before. His search rewarded him when he spied a laptop sitting on one of the bedside tables. He was certain that had not been there that morning, and he carefully opened it. A sticky note that bore Phen’s handwriting was attached to the keyboard.

“This is an old one of mine. There’s no password, and I’m not sure if there’s anything terribly interesting on it, and it can be pretty slow… But it has internet access! Hopefully this helps.”

Skiz couldn’t help but smile. Phen really was doing all she could to make his stay less stressful. Despite her being so small and childlike, he had a feeling it wouldn’t be inaccurate to call her the “mom” of the group. He sat down at the desk, pushing the tray of food aside and getting the laptop set up. He stared at the device for a moment. He was certain he had seen things like it, but somehow he wasn’t sure if he knew how to operate it. While he pondered over that, he took a look at the power cord. He stared at the end of it for a moment before something clicked in his head. He stood up again and carried the end under the desk where there was an outlet. He carefully pushed the three prongs into the holes and let out a triumphant laugh when they went in smoothly.

When he looked at the laptop again, he was delighted to see a small light on its front was lit up. Lights usually meant something good, at least that’s what he thought to himself as he began the next task of figuring out how the thing turned on.

*****

At six o’ clock sharp, Phen unlocked the front doors and opened them, greeting the awaiting crowd cheerfully. Already there were a dozen women and teenagers gathered outside. They politely waited until the small girl had propped the doors open and stepped out of the way before entering. Phen followed them into the main room where already the other ladies were greeting their guests as they began to disperse among the six of them. Phen went around to each group and began to take down any specific requests for drinks or snacks before returning to the kitchen. She crossed paths with a couple more young ladies coming inside and gave them a warm “hello” before continuing with her task.

An hour later and everything was in full swing. Nearly every available seating option had been taken, with a few people even opting to sit on the floor. In their corner of the room, Anthony and Kaylee had decided to do the same. The taller, more aggressive woman had a few empty cans beside her, waiting for Phen to swing by and pick them up.

“…and that’s when I realized the damn thing _still_ wasn’t dead!” Anthony exclaimed. “Let me tell you, them sea serpents are the worst. You can hack ‘em apart and cut out their eyes and bash their skulls in and they _still_ come after you!”

“How did you kill it?” one guest asked.

“Ainy had to distract it. It was my cannons that managed to finish it off.” Kaylee replied. “Of course then the task became getting it on board and carving it up before the sharks could.”

Anthony draped an arm around her fiancé as she downed the rest of the can of beer she was on. She belched loudly, much to the amusement of their guests before she continued on with her story.

In another corner of the room, Michele sighed and shook her head. Several of her guests had glanced towards the half-drunk woman with grimaces on their faces from her disgusting behavior. It was Rachele who drew their attention again.

“I’m sorry about that. Please do continue with what you were saying.”

The guest who had been speaking looked confused for a moment before asking, “Where was I?”

“You were talking about how your girlfriend stood you up on your last date.” Michele replied calmly.

“Oh right! Yeah, so like, I sent her a text fifteen minutes after I got there. It was _so_ embarrassing! It was a really nice restaurant, too. I had been wanting to take her there for weeks and she just didn’t show up!” she huffed angrily. “Turns out she had double booked and went to see a movie with this other girl from her physics class instead! Needless to say, I broke up with her after that. Oh but the story doesn’t end there. Now she’s begging me to forgive her and wants to get coffee with me on Monday and I keep telling her no. It’s so stupid!”

“This person she went to the movies with, you’ve talked about her before, haven’t you?” Michele asked.

The girl laughed. “Oh my God, yes! She’s the same idiot who kept trying to hook me up with her brother!” she blanched. “I kept telling her I was a lesbian and she just did _not_ get take the hint. Now I see why. She wanted my girlfriend! I guess she gave up on caring that she wasn’t single.”

Phen stepped back into the room carrying a tray with several drinks. She swung by Aurora’s group first, as it had the fewest things she needed to pick up and dropped off what had been ordered there. “Group” actually would have been a bit much, as there were only two women with him at the time. Both of them turned to Phen when she approached and asked why she never sat down and took guests as well. Phen merely flashed them a smile and replied that somebody had to do the busy work. The ladies whined at that and said that it was unfair that somebody so small had to be on her feet all night and had to be the one to carry everything.

“It’s okay.” Phen assured them. “I like doing things this way!”

As she moved on to the next group, Aurora chuckled.

“If Phen were to take a seat and be like the rest of us, she would be bored.” He stated. “That’s not to say that you ladies are boring, far from it, but she’s the sort who is happiest doing all of the busy work. Besides, if she sat down then you all wouldn’t be able to enjoy her cooking.”

“That’s true…” one of the women admitted. “So, about that service you were offering…?”

Aurora smiled softly and leaned forward, resting his chin on his laced fingers as he spoke. “One-on-one is something we don’t advertise, and for good reason. It’s a thing we only offer to regulars that we already have a good relationship with, such as yourselves.”

“I think I’ve heard others allude to it before.”

The man nodded. “You probably have. We will deny it being a thing if it is ever brought up. We don’t want anyone to try and ask for it. This is not a whorehouse, after all. Plus it’s expensive.”

“How expensive are we talking?”

Aurora grinned, knowing that the price he was about to give them was well within the range the pair were willing to pay. They had often bragged about having a lot of money to burn, and while typically it was not his thing to get with women like them, he had the knowledge that for the sake of the business their type were excellent prospects.

And lastly, in her corner of the room Narabus slid a finger under the chin of one of her guests and tilted her head up to look her in the eye. The teenagers around her squealed loudly at the sight, several blushing brightly as if they had just been the ones who had been touched.

“There’s no need to be shy, darling.” Narabus whispered, her face barely an inch away from the girl’s. “If you have a question, then all you need to do is speak up.”

The girl, who was beet red, stuttered as she asked, “C-c-can… Can I ha-have a…a…” She pulled away and hid her face in her hands, too embarrassed to finish her request.

Narabus smiled at her fondly. “I cannot take care of you if you will not be honest with me.” She stated before looking around at her group in its entirety. “I hope you all know that that goes for the lot of you as well.”

A few more shrieks came from a few of them before more than one hurriedly asked for all manner of physical affection from her. Narabus chuckled and promised that everyone would be allowed their fair attention. The girl who had been hiding peeked out from between her fingers and was surprised to find Narabus was looking right at her again. She took a deep breath and lowered her hands.

“Th-then…could I…could I… Kiss me!” she shouted before hiding her face again.

Narabus reached out and laid her palm on girl’s cheek tenderly. “You have to move your hands first…” she murmured, leaning in close again.

*****

Back upstairs, Skiz had managed to figure out several functions and features of the laptop. He grumbled as yet again he failed to understand how Minesweeper worked and checked what time it was. He was surprised to see it was getting close to ten o’ clock. As he had made no progress in the weird game in nearly half an hour, he decided to give up for the time being and went to get a shower.

After which he realized that he didn’t have even one change of clothes. He may have been clean, but what he wore was starting to stink and he frowned at that. He jotted down a note on the computer about it, along with a few other things he wanted to remember to bring up or ask about. Once that was done, he began to see what else there was to do with the device he was allowed to mess around with.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So we've seen what the ladies get up to during business hours, but what about Skiz? And how about everyone immediately after closing?

It was just after eleven at night when a certain problem occurred. Skiz had managed to figure out how to access the internet and had somehow fallen down a rabbit hole of adorable animal videos. He watched happily as a tiny kitten valiantly tried to climb a set of floor-length curtains. It had nearly reached the top when suddenly the screen went black and the faint hum of the laptop’s fan came to a stop. None of the lights on the front were lit up anymore, and Skiz immediately started to panic. He pressed the power button, but nothing happened. To make matters worse, he heard a knock at his door…

*****

Phen slid a pan of cookies into the oven, set a timer, and gave a big stretch. She looked around to make sure nothing else was pressing. Not seeing a thing that needed her immediate attention, she slipped across the hall and approached Michele and Rachele. A few of their guests greeted her happily, and she returned them in kind.

“Would you two mind keeping an eye on things for me real quick? I need to go upstairs. Shouldn’t take me too long.” Phen asked her co-workers.

“Sure.” Michele replied simply, understanding exactly what Phen needed to do. Rachele too gave a nod.

“Thank you so much. I’ll be right back.” The girl told them before hurrying back into the kitchen and putting a couple of cookies from the previous batch on a plate. She then poured a glass of milk. She quickly carried both upstairs.

She reached the room Skiz was staying in and gave a quick knock. She was going to open the door regardless of if he answered it, but she at least wanted to give him a chance to tell her not to come in for whatever reason. A few seconds passed and she reached for the doorknob, only for Skiz to open it himself. Phen smiled up at him and was about to ask how he was doing when she noticed the flustered look on his face. She didn’t even get a chance to ask him what was wrong when he began apologizing profusely.

“Phen! I’m so sorry! I was just watching some videos of cats and then all of a sudden it turned off and I can’t seem to turn it back on! I swear I wasn’t trying to break it! Oh no, what did I do wrong…” Skiz rambled, casting a worried looked over at the laptop.

Phen followed his gaze and hummed curiously. She stepped passed him and set the cookies and milk on the desk. She stared at the lights that still were not on. Skiz came to stand beside her as she pressed the power button, fidgeting nervously. When nothing happened, he opened his mouth to apologize some more. He was surprised when she moved the chair back and knelt down under the desk. She carefully grasped the end of the power cord, which had fallen mostly out of the outlet it was in, and plugged it into the one below it. She then stood up and smiled, seeing the battery charging light was on. She pressed the power button again and the computer began to boot up. She turned a grin up at Skiz, who was staring dumbfounded.

“Rory’s mentioned having problems with that outlet. It’s a bit too loose or something. Anyway, just plug it into the bottom one and you should be fine.” Phen told him, her smile still in place.

“Oh thank goodness…” Skiz breathed, feeling tension and panic leaving him in a hurry. “I really was worried I’d broken it.”

“No worries! When in doubt, check that everything is plugged in correctly. You’d be surprised how often a problem is resolved because something isn’t plugged in. It happens to everyone.”

Skiz glanced at the laptop and muttered, “It’s just… It’s all so unfamiliar to me…”

Phen blinked, confused about his statement. She reached up and patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about it, really. Even if it had died, as long as it wasn’t your fault I wouldn’t have been angry. Like I said, it’s old. I haven’t even turned it on in…oh…three years? Anyway, you should be back in business now. Just keep an eye on the battery meter in case the power cord comes unplugged again somehow. Oh! And I brought you some cookies and milk!” she gestured to the plate and glass on the desk. “They’re just chocolate chip. I didn’t know if you’d like any other kind so…”

Skiz eyed the small treats and gave her a smile of his own. “Thanks!”

“It’s no trouble.” She giggled. “Are you done with what I gave you earlier? I’ll take the tray back downstairs.”

“Oh yeah, uh…” Skiz snatched up the empty tray from where he had stuck it on the bed and handed it to her.

“Thank you!” Phen laughed again. “There’s still a couple hours left until we close. Are you going to be okay?”

“I think so, yeah.”

“Alright. Then I’ll see you again in a couple hours. Take care.”

“Will do.”

Phen showed herself out and closed the door behind her, taking the empty tray with her. Skiz sat down again and with a little searching managed to find the video he had been watching. He had to skim forward to find where he had left off, but was pleased to see that it hadn’t been lost to him. He really wanted to know if the kitten would make it, and also how it planned to get back down.

He delighted in seeing that the kitten managed to climb all the way to the top. But then it realized it was very high up and started crying out in distress as it looked below it. Its owner, who was filming, decided to intervene and easily plucked the tiny creature from the curtains and set it back on the floor. The kitten then bounded off to tackle one of its siblings and the video ended. Skiz began to browse the other videos that were being recommended to him, and picked up one of the cookies. He looked it over and gave it a small bite. Deciding it liked it, he began to nibble on it as he chose what to watch next.

*****

The last of the guests paid their bill and were showed out by Phen. Once they were gone, she closed and locked the door. She set the “closed” sign they had in the door’s window and meandered back to the main room where everyone else was beginning to relax.

“Well done tonight, ladies!” she called out. A small chorus of similar sentiments rang out among the six tired workers. While they rested, Phen decided to quickly relay what had happened when she had checked on Skiz.

“So…does anyone else find it odd that he had said it was ‘unfamiliar’?” Anthony asked.

There was a bit of silence, but it was the sort that said the others agreed. From what Phen had told them, his behavior was beginning to feel more and more off. Partially to break the silence, Aurora got to his feet and announced that he was going to go and fetch the young man in question at long last. No one offered to do it instead, all wanting to stay and relax a bit longer, so he made his way upstairs alone.

Narabus laid across the sofa she had been occupying and groaned loudly. “Have I ever mentioned how much I hate teenage girls?” she mumbled.

“Oh shut up!” Anthony snapped. “If you hate ‘em so much, then why are you always flirting with them every time I look your way?”

“It’s what they want from me.”

“Uh, yeah, because that’s how you’ve been selling yourself from the start! Don’t complain that you’ve gotten the kind of people you set out to attract!”

“At least Narabus is always a perfect gentleman.” Michele quipped. “How often did you burp tonight alone? How vulgar do you need to be? Because of that you’ve attracting some rather seedy customers if I must say.”

Anthony let out a “hmph” and chugged what was left of her last can of beer. “At least I don’t pretend to be all ladylike, and my friendliness is genuine.”

Michele warningly narrowed her eyes at Anthony. “Really? Do you truly believe that I put on a façade when I am working? Is it so hard for you to think that perhaps my dislike of people means I can never have a polite conversation with them? I will have you know that unlike your rowdy lot, my customers come to me in order to talk about themselves and their lives. I listen. You on the other hand only drink and make up stories.”

Anthony shot to her feet and shouted, “What did you say?! Are you tryin’ to pick a fight with me? Well, come on! I’ll throw down with a prissy little princess like you! I don’t even need a sword! I’m not scared!”

Rachele was the next to stand, stepping just in front of Michele and scowling in Anthony’s general direction.

“Anthony you’re drunk.” Kaylee sighed, grabbing her fiancé’s wrist gently to hold her back. “We should go upstairs and get some sleep.”

The drunken woman let out another “hmph”. Kaylee stood and was about to lead the way back upstairs to do just that when Aurora returned, Skiz in tow. Anthony noticeably bit back something she wanted to shout, and Kaylee made a mental note to praise her for restraining herself later.

Aurora glanced around the room and breathed a sigh. “Well, good to know things haven’t changed.” He muttered, stepping into the room and sitting down again.

Skiz on the other hand looked very confused as to what had just been going on. Unwilling to ask and potentially incur the clearly-drunken Anthony’s wrath, he turned his attention to Phen, who was still standing just inside the room and off to one side of its exit.

“So um…thanks again for, you know, the stuff.” He said cautiously, holding up the empty plate and glass. “Both were really good. And sorry again about the computer.”

Phen giggled and took the dishes from him. “Really, both were no trouble.” She assured him. “You didn’t know it would come unplugged. Still, I’m surprised you didn’t notice the battery meter dropping.”

“I didn’t even know there was such a thing until you told me about it.” Skiz stated.

Phen wasn’t the only one who cast him a strange look at that. The girl shrugged and went into the kitchen in order to begin cleanup. Kaylee decided that was as good a time as any to get back to taking Anthony back to her room. As they stepped passed Skiz, the taller woman glared at him and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like “stupid fuckin’ man can’t even work a laptop”. Skiz let out another sigh and decided to take a seat somewhere between where Aurora and Michele were relaxing. With Anthony out of the room, Rachele sat down again as well.

“So you discovered the bad outlet, then?” Aurora asked Skiz.

“Yeah. How’d you know?”

The man smirked. “Phen told all of us about it. I should have warned you about it, sorry.”

“I just feel dumb that I didn’t even think to make sure it was still plugged in.”

“Don’t worry. Stuff like that has probably happened to all of us. You think something is plugged in so you don’t pay attention until it suddenly shuts off.”

Skiz felt a little bit better hearing that, but it didn’t stop him from feeling weird about his lack of understanding something that appeared to be so simple to the rest of them. And for their part, the ladies began to wonder if there was more to Skiz’s problems than just his amnesia.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Saturday morning shows a bit of a new side for some of the ladies. Plus there are plenty of hints for future events!

Things wound down quickly that night. Phen, Michele, Rachele, and Skiz all polished off what was left of the food. The married couple went up to bed right after. When Skiz stepped back into the main room he found Narabus half-asleep and cuddling up on top of Aurora on a couch. With a few “good nights” exchanged between them, Skiz went back up to the room he was staying in to sleep.

In the morning Skiz found himself to be the first one downstairs aside from Aurora. With some hesitation he sat down across from the demon. Aurora smiled over at him and finished the page he was reading in a book he had. Once his place had been bookmarked he turned his attention fully to the building’s guest.

“Sleep well?” Aurora asked.

“Yeah. Did you?”

“Nah, I didn’t sleep this morning.” The man stretched his arms above his head and shifted a little where he had been lounging across the sofa. “I rarely sleep at all. Thank you for asking, though.”

“That’s why you’re okay with giving up your room?”

“More or less. Like I said, I never used it.”

The two fell into silence. It made Skiz even more uncomfortable than he had been. While he had sort of gotten over the man and Narabus trying to hit on him, he still had no idea how to talk to either of them. It didn’t help that he didn’t seem as up for conversation as Michele, Rachele, and Phen were. A little voice in the back of Skiz’s head prayed that somebody else would come down stairs and break the awkward silence.

He got his wish, although he couldn’t help but feel he should have been more specific about who would be the one(s) to show up. Loud footsteps came barreling down the stairs, along with shrieks of laughter. Kaylee hurried into the main room and immediately ducked behind an armchair. Not a second later Anthony entered as well, her eyes wild and a smirk on her face. She scanned the room slowly and took another couple of steps into it.

“Oh Kaylee my dear, where are you?” she sang. “You can’t hide from me forever!”

Skiz couldn’t help but be frozen in place. This was the first time he had seen either woman in any sort of “happy” state, let alone the somewhat amused look on Anthony’s face. He didn’t want to disturb them if he could help it. He watched as Anthony playfully sniffed the air like a predator and slowly began to slink along one wall, heading in the general direction that Kaylee had gone. After a few steps, the woman paused and her eyes zeroed in on the very armchair where her fiancé was hiding. Seconds ticked by, when suddenly Anthony let out a loud roar and vaulted over the chair, only to whip around and tackle Kaylee before she could scramble away.

“GOTCHA!” Anthony shouted, squeezing her captured fiancé tightly.

Kaylee let out a shriek and began to laugh again, hugging Anthony as best she could. Skiz couldn’t help but turn a little red when the pair began to lovingly plant kisses all over each other’s faces. Finally Aurora breathed a sigh and shook his head.

“You two are going to wake everyone up if you play so noisily this early.” He spoke up.

Anthony rolled her eyes. “Oh yeah, what’re they gonna do? Complain? Tomorrow’s Sunday. They can sleep in.”

“Rory’s right, you know.” Kaylee stated. “Just think of how poor Phen would feel if-”

Again on que a loud whine could be heard from the bottom of the stairs. Not a second later Phen stepped into the doorway, still in her pajamas. She was rubbing one eye and glaring blearily at the two women on the floor with the other. A pout formed on her lips when they returned her gaze.

“You two are too loud!” the elf whined. “There were a lot of dishes to wash last night, so I didn’t get to go to bed as early as you did!”

Both women suddenly appeared to be feeling very guilty, and they both offered up quiet apologies. Phen huffed and muttered something about putting them on cleaning duty if they did it again. She then took a breath and announced that she would get to work on breakfast after she got a shower and then left. Anthony released her fiancé and the two sat up. They remained cuddling with each other on the floor, leaning against the armchair they had been behind.

Before Phen came back down, Rachele and Michele joined them in the main room. Michele had to ask if Phen had been woken up, and received a pair of guilty “yes”s from the couple on the floor. With a sigh, the quieter pair sat down to resume working on the puzzle they had abandoned the day before. Kaylee whispered something to her partner and with a groan Anthony stood up and approached them.

She cleared her throat and avoided looking at Michele as she spoke softly. “Hey um…about last night…” Michele glanced up at her for a brief moment but ultimately turned her attention back to the puzzle. Anthony rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. “I’m…I’m sorry. I got out of hand and went a bit too far. That wasn’t cool of me.”

Michele breathed another sigh and looked up at her properly. “You’re forgiven. And for what it’s worth, I apologize as well. I shouldn’t have goaded you like that. I knew that you were drunk and already in a bad mood, and I certainly did not help the situation. The stories you tell are honestly very interesting at times.”

Anthony flushed just a little and she met Michele’s eyes. She offered a little smile. “Thanks… And you’re not a prissy little princess, nor do I think you’re faking friendliness.”

Michele smiled as well. “If not a prissy little princess, then what I am?”

The taller woman shrugged. “I dunno. A gloomy and moody little princess?”

Rachele snorted out a laugh, and even Michele looked amused at that. “I suppose that _is_ more accurate.” She waved Anthony off and returned to the puzzle. “Go make out with your fiancé.”

With an exaggerated bow, Anthony returned to where Kaylee was and snuggled up with her again. Kaylee whispered how proud she was that Anthony had resolved that problem and kissed her once more. When Narabus joined everyone else in the main room, Anthony quickly apologized to her as well, although she did not get up from where she was sitting. Narabus only laughed and said it was okay.

With the mood of the room much happier than before, everyone settled into their usual morning chatter. With more options for people to hang out with, Skiz abandoned his spot across from Aurora and joined Michele and Rachele again. He couldn’t help but feel a little bad about it, but he decided that trying to talk to Aurora could wait another day. For her part, when Phen came back down she was in a much more chipper mood and went about making breakfast just as she had said she would. When their meal was served, everyone gathered together. What surprised Skiz was the binder Phen had opened up on her lap while they all began to eat.

“Alright, time to go over the coming week…” she muttered.

“Is it really okay to talk about that when, you know, _he’s_ here?” Anthony asked, glancing at Skiz as if it wasn’t obvious who she was talking about.

“As long as no one says our customers’ names or anything it should be alright.” Narabus stated.

Phen nodded in agreement.

“Uh, what are you talking about?” Skiz asked.

“We usually go over our schedules for the coming week on Saturday.” Narabus explained. “We have Sundays off, but everyone usually does their own thing and so we’re rarely in the same room at the same time. It’s easier to do things this way.”

“Right. So let’s start with tomorrow. What are everyone’s plans?” Phen asked. “Personally I’ve got a date with Wolfgang!” she giggled.

Skiz blinked. “Who is that?”

“He’s my boyfriend.”

Skiz didn’t quite know how to process that. Somehow with two lesbian couples in the house and everyone’s customers being female he hadn’t quite thought that at least one of the ladies could be straight. He also hadn’t expected somebody who looked as girlish as Phen to have a boyfriend, although he supposed with how lively and friendly she was it certainly wasn’t impossible.

“Anthony and I are going out, too.” Kaylee spoke up. “A day out, maybe dinner. The usual.”

Phen nodded and scribbled that down.

“I’ll be out of the house as well.” Aurora stated. “I may not get back until Monday morning either. I’m going drinking with my brothers.”

The girl wrote that down as well. Michele, Rachele, and Narabus all stated that they would be staying home. Phen then said that there was nothing of note on Monday. On Tuesday Aurora had a one-on-one session with a customer, and on Wednesday Narabus had one as well. Then on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday Narabus would not be working (“of course”). In addition to that, Michele would be gone for the earlier part of Friday’s hours to meet with her father.

When everyone had given their approval, Skiz couldn’t help but ask another question. “Is there some reason you’re not working?” he asked Narabus before quickly realizing that it was probably none of his business. “I mean, you don’t have to tell me! I was just curious.”

Narabus chuckled. “It’ll be the full moon. I have…some other business to attend to on those days. Always do.”

Since neither she nor anyone else seemed inclined to give him any more information, Skiz chose to drop the subject. He was a little surprised when the line of questioning was turned to him. Phen asked if there was anything he could think of that he might want or need to make his nights pass easier. Skiz gave it a moment’s thought but couldn’t think up anything. Whatever was on that laptop and the internet was still very intriguing to him, so at least for the time being he felt he would be okay. With a “be sure to tell me if you think of anything”, Phen closed the binder and dug into her own share of breakfast.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Half of the Club Lily ladies are leaving to spend their day off with their loved ones. Skiz also gets to briefly meet a few of said loved ones...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had quite a lot of fun writing this chapter. See if you can guess why!

Saturday night played out much the same as the night before it. Skiz was led upstairs with a bunch of snacks to tide him over just before opening. He messed around on the computer while the ladies worked. Phen went up to check on him when she got the chance. When all was said and done he was allowed to go back downstairs. Everyone all chatted a tiny bit before dispersing to get some sleep. About the only thing different was that Skiz offered to help Phen with the dishes, as he remembered what she had said about having to stay up later than the others because of it. She thanked him, and once they were all washed, dried, and put away the two of them also turned in for the night.

*****

“You two are up early.” Aurora stated from the main room.

“And that’s surprising how?” Anthony asked.

She and Kaylee had just come down the stairs and were headed for the front door. Anthony had poked her head into the main room when Aurora spoke up.

“It isn’t. Just making an observation.”

Anthony grunted in a “then don’t bother us” sort of way and she and Kaylee left the building without another word. Over the course of the next hour the other ladies and Skiz awoke and trickled downstairs. Everyone was not surprised to hear that the pair of man haters had already left. Phen in particular gave a shrug at the news and muttered to herself that it only meant she would make a little bit less for breakfast before going into the kitchen.

Skiz had just gotten himself situated with Michele and Rachele when Aurora got to his feet and stretched.

“I’m borrowing your room, Narabus.” He called over his shoulder as he left the main room.

“Got it!” she called back.

Skiz blinked in confusion. “…Why?”

“He probably wants to grab a shower before heading out. And since you’ve been using his room, he’d rather continue to let you have that space.” Narabus replied. “I don’t mind. It isn’t the first time he’s gone and used part of my living space.”

“Huh…okay.”

The man hadn’t returned when Phen announced that breakfast was ready. It surprised Skiz a little that everyone got up (with Michele motioning for him to follow) and went into the kitchen. With the smaller group, Phen had served everyone around the island counter rather than in the main room. Skiz went with the flow and sat down with them. He noticed that no place had been set for Aurora, but didn’t ask about it. He assumed Phen knew what she was doing and that the man would be eating elsewhere.

No sooner had they all finished their meal than the front door of the building opened. Phen jumped to her feet and hurried out into the hall.

“Wolf! You’re early!” she called out.

A very quiet voice replied to her, but Skiz was unable to hear what exactly had been said. Before he could even begin to ask questions, Phen entered the kitchen again with her guest in tow. Skiz felt his jaw hit the floor. He wasn’t sure what he had been expecting of whom he assumed Phen was dating, but what he saw was certainly _not_ it. The person standing awkwardly behind Phen was less of a man, and more like a bear. He was huge, both towering taller than Aurora and very muscular. Long brown fur coated his entire body as well.

“Good morning…” he spoke, voice surprisingly soft and perhaps a little shy.

“Good morning, Wolfgang. It’s been a while.” Michele replied.

Rachele and Narabus shared similar sentiments in their greetings.

The bear-or man?-nodded back to them in agreement. His eyes fell on Skiz and he shifted nervously.

“I…don’t believe we’ve met.” He stated.

“Right!” Phen shouted. “Wolfgang, this is the person I told you about. The one we’re keeping on an eye on. His name is Skiz.” The young man in question couldn’t help but find it a little strange to be spoken about as if he were a pet to a person who seemed to a bipedal bear. “Skiz, this is my boyfriend Wolfgang!”

“Nice to meet you.” Wolfgang stated, holding out his hand.

Skiz was a little apprehensive about shaking hands with somebody who had claws as huge as Wolfgang’s, but he did it all the same. He was surprised to find the man was gentle even in giving a handshake, not just in speaking.

“Yeah, nice to meet you, too.”

“Phen...” Michele spoke up. “If you and Wolfgang would like to get going, Rachele and I will take care of the dishes for you.”

Phen perked up at that. “Would you? That’d be wonderful.”

Rachele smiled and nodded. “You two get going. And have fun on your date!”

Wolfgang shuffled his feet shyly at the word “date”, but Phen only giggled out a “thank you”. She took Wolfgang’s arm and led him back out into the hallway. In addition to the many things that had shocked him about the situation just now, Skiz found it very odd that somebody as tiny as Phen handled somebody as huge as Wolfgang as if he was just another person. It was no wonder they were dating…

As soon as the door had shut behind them, Michele and Rachele got up and began to clear the counter. While they got to washing the dishes, Narabus took a moment to explain something that Skiz had yet to even think of.

“Whenever Phen is away, we’re kind of left to our own devices when it comes to lunch and dinner. Can you cook?”

“Oh uh, yeah. A little.” Skiz replied. “Although I’m not exactly comfortable doing things in another person’s kitchen…” he admitted.

“I assure you, its fine.” Michele told him over her shoulder while she worked. “If it makes you more comfortable I’ll show you around and you can cook along with me when I make lunch for Rachele and I.”

Skiz breathed a little sigh of relief. “Thanks. That’s actually really nice of you to offer.”

Rachele giggled. Michele grumbled.

“Sorry, sorry.” The taller woman said between laughs. “I’m still getting used to hearing people calling you ‘nice’.”

“I’ve never been impolite.”

“No, but that doesn’t make you ‘nice’!”

Michele let out a huff and silently focused on her task again. When the dishes were completely finished the four of them migrated back to the main room. It was about then that Skiz noticed Aurora was taking a rather long time. He was about to voice these thoughts when the front door opened once more. Unlike Wolfgang, however, the ones who entered weren’t quiet and shy.

“Yo! Is Rory ready?!” a man called out.

Everyone had just barely sat down, but Narabus got to feet to greet their newest guests as they welcomed themselves into the main room. It only took Skiz one little glance to piece together that the two men were Aurora’s brothers. Both were clearly demons in all the same ways that Aurora was and stood nearly as tall as he did. One had short red hair, the other long brown hair tied back in a braid.

“Not yet.” Narabus replied as she hugged the both of them. “Should be soon, though.”

“Of course he’s running late. We even gave him an extra ten minutes.” The brown haired one grumbled.

“Told you we should have given him fifteen.”

“No, what we _should_ have done is dragged Que along and sent him up to fetch him!”

The redhead laughed. “We’d be waiting another hour if that were the case.”

The brunet shuddered. “Oh…right…”

As much as Skiz wanted to speak up, everything was interrupted by Aurora finally coming back downstairs, looking just a little more dolled up than usual. The brunet was about to tease him for being late, but Aurora silently threw an arm around his neck and began to drag him down the hall to the exit. The redhead busted up laughing and said a quick good-bye to the room before hurrying after them. Narabus waved them off and returned to her favorite seat in the main room.

“And that was Jake and Kyle.” She said to Skiz. “They don’t come around here that often, so I don’t think a proper introduction is necessary.” She stated.

“Uh…okay. I’ll take your word for it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have I made it obvious enough that Skiz finds it weird that Wolfgang's a bear? Like an actual bear? Because he does. He finds that very weird. Why is he a bear?! D8


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time to see what Skiz gets up to on the ladies' day off~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHOOPS! I forgot to update this here on the 14th! Sorry 'bout that!

Thanks to the late hours that the place was open, it wasn’t uncommon for the residents to eat breakfast and lunch later than most people. In the couple days that Skiz had been with them, he had already gleaned that much. It came as no surprise that it was well after one in the afternoon that Michele announced that she was going to make lunch for her and Rachele. Taking her up on her promise, Skiz followed her into the kitchen.

The short, quiet girl gave him a quick rundown of where everything was. In addition, she pointed to one of the refrigerators and told him that anything in it, as well as within a section of the cabinets, was fair game. Still feeling kind of overwhelmed, Skiz at least thanked her and went to look through his options. For her part, Michele fetched a piece of meat from the fridge and found a knife and cutting board. Skiz watched her for a moment as she began trimming the fat.

“You know…when most people say they like knives, they aren’t talking about ones used for cooking.” He found himself saying aloud. Almost immediately he felt like kicking himself. Why had he said that?! It was such a weird comment to make!

Michele only spared him a second’s glance. “I suppose you have a point.” She conceded, not seeming particularly bothered by the oddity of the statement. “In truth, I only learned how to cook when I came to live here. I’m far more skilled in combat with a knife than I am cutting up a piece of chicken with one.”

Breathing a silent sigh of relief, Skiz went back to looking around. A few minutes passed, and he felt himself becoming a little confused and flustered because of it. From where she was now mincing garlic, Michele kept glancing his way. At last she finished her current task and turned to face him properly.

“Is something the matter?” she asked.

“Uh, kind of?” Skiz replied. “I just… I don’t really know…” He trailed off, not even sure at all how he should put what he wanted to say. “I know I can cook _some_ things, but looking at what’s in this kitchen… None of it matches what I know.”

Michele raised an eyebrow. “How do you mean?”

“Well, this might just be because of the whole amnesia thing, but nothing in the fridge looks familiar. It’s the weirdest feeling…”

This certainly sparked Michele’s curiosity, and the glint in her eye would have been apparent to anyone. She set her knife down, rinsed her fingers, and opened the fridge. Skiz watched silently as she fetched several things and set them out on the island. Lastly, she opened a drawer and picked up a butter knife, which she set down with the other things.

“Well, in that case I think you should start with something simple. Bread, tomatoes, lettuce, pickles, cheese, condiments, and… Do you eat pork?”

“Um, yeah, sure.”

“Good, it’s what we have the most of. There’s also some chicken or beef lunch meat if you’d prefer.”

“No, pork should be fine.”

Michele gave a little wave towards the ingredients. “Alright then. Make yourself a sandwich. Use as much of any of that stuff as you’d like. I’ll clean up after I’m done here, so don’t worry about putting anything away. Just drop the knife in the sink.”

“Thanks.” Skiz told her.

Knowing what a sandwich was, at least, he went about making a couple for himself. He was pretty sure he had put a little too much of everything into the first one, but he still wanted more than one just to make sure that he was full. When he was done, he put the knife in the sink like Michele had instructed, put his meal on a plate that she had dug out of the cabinet for him, and made his way back into the main room.

A short while later, Michele came back out with three glasses of juice. She set one for herself and Rachele, and gave the other to Skiz. He thanked her, to which she merely nodded.

“Chicken’s in the oven.” She told Rachele. “It’ll be a few more minutes.”

Rachele smiled happily. “Sounds good!”

With both of them out of the kitchen for the time being, Narabus finally got to her feet and wandered in to make herself something to eat. She didn’t spend too long in there before she let out a loud sigh that could be heard from the main room. When she came back, a frown was painting her features.

“Hey uh…sorry to bother you two…” she muttered to the two other ladies. “Could I ask a favor of one of you?” They both raised an eyebrow in her direction. “I was hoping to be able to wait until Wednesday, but I don’t think that’s gonna be possible. Would one of you mind giving me a little hand? I just need enough to make it ‘til then.”

Michele sighed and Rachele giggled. The taller of the two got to her feet and carefully stepped around the coffee table in front of her in order to approach Narabus. The older woman thanked her gratefully and leaned down towards her neck.

It took Skiz a moment to remember what he had been told about vampires. Watching Narabus pierce the delicate flesh of Rachele’s neck with her long fangs caused a chill to run down his spine. He wasn’t sure whether to be grossed out or fascinated at the sight of blood spilling from the puncture wounds when she pulled her teeth free. Quickly, so as not to make a mess of Rachele’s white clothing, the vampire sealing her lips around the wounds she had made and began to suck softly.

While Skiz watched in a bit of a daze, Michele had gotten up to fetch some basic medical supplies. When Narabus released her “prey”, Michele was quick to clean and dress the wounds up for her husband. The vampire’s lips were stained red, and she dragged her tongue over them to wipe away the remnants of blood.

“Thank you again.” Narabus told the one she had bitten.

Rachele shook her head. “It’s nothing! Don’t worry about it. It’s the least any of us can do when you’re unable to find somebody better.”

With that, Narabus went back towards the kitchen. Michele finished up what she was doing and left again. Rachele herself went back to her seat and continued working on the puzzle that was still unfinished.

“Does…does that hurt?” Skiz asked her after a moment.

Rachele giggled. “Of course it does. But I’ve felt worse. And Narabus is really quite gentle.”

“Still…it didn’t look pleasant.”

She shrugged. “I never said it was. She needs blood to survive, though, and she never takes too much from any one victim. Normally she’ll bite certain clients of hers, but sometimes she doesn’t have any that fit her criteria for a while, so one of us will step in and help her out.”

“What’s her criteria? I mean, if it’s okay to tell me of course.”

Rachele hummed as she thought it over. “She’s said it herself that she prefers virgins, but she doesn’t require her prey to be that way. The ones she looks for are a…particularly sort. It’s kind of hard to talk about with people outside our work. Sorry.”

“No, that’s alright. I had a feeling I wouldn’t get a solid answer.”

A short while later both of the other women returned to the main room. Michele brought in the meal she had cooked up for herself and Rachele, but Narabus only had a glass of water. Skiz assumed that she had been chatting with Michele in the kitchen and after having been fed blood wasn’t hungry for normal food at all.

Shortly after dark, Phen returned to the building. From the sounds of it, Wolfgang had dropped her off but didn’t come inside more than just into the main hall. Once he had left, the girl hummed as she made her way into the main room. She greeted everyone, and answered that she had had a good date when Michele asked. She said something about having paperwork to do and then went upstairs to her office, where ever that was.

Much later in the night, Anthony and Kaylee returned as well. The two barely spared a word to everyone else before heading for their rooms as well. Skiz wasn’t surprised by this, although he couldn’t help but wonder if his being around was somehow keeping them from spending time with the others. Whether it was noticed that he was feeling a bit troubled or not, Michele suggested they go make their dinner. Again Skiz followed her into the kitchen.

The quiet girl seemed to take pity on him and stated that she would make food for him and Narabus too. Before he could object in anyway, Michele asked him to fetch a few things from the cabinets while she gathered the ingredients she would need. Getting the point that he was going to be her assistant, Skiz went ahead and did so.

Michele ended up making a light soup for them. Narabus was thankful not only for her cooking, but also for her choice since she was still not feeling all too hungry. They ate, talked a little, did the dishes…all things fairly calm and uneventful. To Skiz’s surprise, the three ladies decided to turn in around eleven. Narabus went ahead and locked up the place and shut off lights that weren’t needed any longer. Skiz was told that he was welcome to stay up a while longer downstairs, but in the end he chose to go back to the room he was staying in. Poking around online until he got tired sounded like more fun than sitting in an empty room.

At nearly three in the morning, Aurora came stumbling into the building. He just barely managed to lock up behind him again before staggering into the main room and drunkenly falling onto his favorite couch and passing out on the spot.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first part of the week passes without much of note. But Thursday morning brings about something definitely strange.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So January has been a garbage month for me so far and I am SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG TO UPDATE BUT OH MY GOD IT REALLY HAS BEEN AWFUL UUUUGGH! ...Buuut with that said, I am super excited to be posting this chapter because quite frankly I just love the possibilities this opens up~

As far as Skiz was concerned, Monday passed like usual. He was starting to get used to being on his own for the several hours that the ladies all worked. Sure it was a bit lonely having no one to talk to and nowhere to go, but he was getting good at finding ways to entertain himself.

Tuesday morning arrived, and with it came yet another change. Over lunch, somebody mentioned that Aurora had a special client that day. There was some questioning as to what he was going to do about that, but Narabus quickly spoke up and said that he could use her room. Before Skiz could ask what was going on, Phen remarked that it was fortunate that the two of them didn’t have anyone scheduled on the same days.

“Wait…what’s this about clients and needing Narabus’s room?” Skiz finally managed to get out.

The ladies all shared a weird look, and it was Aurora who decided to answer him. “Narabus and I occasionally have special sessions with our patrons. As part of the service, we require a private area. Normally we use our own rooms, but since you’re here I can’t use mine.”

“So… It’s like what you do normally, only with no one else around?”

The man nodded. “Something like that. Our primary concern is that our patrons have a fun time. If that requires us to deal with them one-on-one, then we do just that. You don’t need to concern yourself with it.”

Taking him at his word, Skiz didn’t press the issue. It sounded a little strange, but then he was starting to get used to that sort of thing. At least his questions would usually get _some_ kind of answer. All in all, the night went by much the same way as he was used to. Somewhere around ten o’ clock, he heard Aurora and his client in the hall, and then the door to the room next door slammed closed. After that, there wasn’t a single peep until close to eleven. Then as usual, he was allowed to go downstairs after hours.

Wednesday was practically a repeat of the day before. Only this time, it was Narabus who brought somebody into her own room. However, the wee hours of Thursday morning proved to be much different than anything Skiz had come to know so far.

He was brought downstairs close to one in the morning, like usual. The ladies were of course relaxing some after their work. Phen asked him to help her with the dishes, which he happily went and did. It was the least he could do to repay their hospitality, he figured.

It was while they were cleaning that something out of the ordinary happened. There was a knock at the front door of the building. The place was already locked up, as far as Skiz knew, and of course it was after hours. Even he was aware that there shouldn’t be anyone trying to come in so late in the night. However, Narabus still got up and went to the doors to see what the ruckus was about. Skiz heard her unlocking the door, and it opened.

“You’re early!” the woman cried out.

A laugh drifted down the hall. “Yeah… Let me tell you: it wasn’t easy waiting for you guys to be closed.”

It was a man. That much was obvious to Skiz. His confusion must have been evident upon his face, because Phen let out a giggle and told him he could go see what’s going on, that she’d take care of the dishes from there. He apologized and hurried to go see what was happening.

He met Narabus in the hall as she was guiding the mysterious guest inside. The man with her looked to be about Skiz’s age, and he was a bit shorter than Narabus was. For the most part, everything about him screamed “plain”, from his brown hair to his brown eyes, to his overall build, to…everything! That was…except for the bandages wrapped tightly around his right forearm. He took one look at Skiz and grinned broadly. Immediately Skiz wasn’t sure what to think about this person.

“So _you’re_ the lost little stray I’ve heard about!” the man said brightly. He approached Skiz, smile never wavering, and held out his hand. “I was kinda worried when Fern told me they had a weird guest, but you don’t look that weird to me. The name’s Gai!”

Skiz raised an eyebrow as he shook Gai’s hand. “I’m Skiz. And sorry but… Fern? And who are you?”

Gai blinked in confusion and glanced over his shoulder at Narabus. There was a brief moment wherein he seemed to process what Skiz had asked before he laughed. “Oh that’s right! She likes to go by her last name! I meant Narabus. She and I are old friends.”

Narabus groaned behind him. “I wouldn’t necessarily call us that…”

Gai only laughed again, causing Skiz to become even more concerned. “It’s kind of a complicated story. I’m not a bad guy, though. So relax.” He told Skiz cheerfully. “Sorry, I’m gonna go sit down. It’s been a long day for me.”

“Er, right…” Skiz muttered, stepping aside to allow Gai to walk by him and into the main room. The others all greeted him warmly, and he said hello to them all in return. Skiz turned a curious look at Narabus, who was smiling fondly in the direction that Gai had just gone. “Fern? That’s a pretty name.”

She made a noise of disgust and went about locking the door again. “Please don’t. I use my surname for a reason.” As soon as she was done with her task, she ushered Skiz into the main room ahead of her.

Already Gai had made himself comfortable in an armchair close to Aurora. He was talking with everyone, just catching up a little from the snippet of conversation that Skiz caught. Narabus sat down on the arm of his chair, and Skiz awkwardly found himself a place to sit. Then proper introductions began.

“Gai and I used to live together.” Narabus explained. “We stayed at the home of a priestess and her daughter. You could say we had been seeking shelter there, since both of us are kind of…odd. I’m a vampire, and at the time I hadn’t found a place to live that would accept a creature like me.”

“Yeah, that’s not exactly the case for me.” Gai spoke up. “I’m a psychic, and as a teenager I was really terrible with my powers. So the priestess offered me guidance and training. I owe her a lot!”

“A psychic?” Skiz asked.

“Like me.” Michele stated. “Although our particular talents differ. I’m better at levitation and mind-reading. Gai excels at telekinesis.”

“‘Excel’ is a strong word.” The man chuckled. “But yes. I can lift and move most objects with my mind without too much effort. Anyway, that’s how Fern and I know each other. So really, I’m not some suspicious guy who just randomly turned up at this ‘den of lesbians’ in the middle of the night!”

While Skiz was a bit skeptical about that weirdly-specific description, he didn’t get a chance to voice as such even if he wanted to. Narabus glanced down at Gai and the bandages on his arm and proceeded to ask why he had come so early. The man breathed a sigh and began to undo the bandages.

“About that… It started hurting really bad this morning. So I decided to come here now.”

He held up his now-bare arm, and Skiz couldn’t help but wince at the sight. Upon the back of his arm, Gai had a huge, disgusting gash running almost from elbow to wrist. It didn’t appear to be bleeding, but the scab was ugly and looked all-too fresh. Narabus clicked her tongue and gently took his arm in her hands, raising it up a little more so that she could get a better look at the wound.

“That’s not good… Has it bled any?”

Gai shook his head. “No. It just hurts. We should still be right on schedule. I just didn’t want to chance not being able to come tomorrow…er…I guess it’s later today now.”

Narabus nodded and released his arm. Gai didn’t bother to bandage it back up, but he did gingerly lay his left hand over the wound. “We might want to start early, then. Just in case.”

He groaned. “I really don’t want to, but I’m not going to object if you bite me tonight.”

“Sorry but…what _is_ that?” Skiz asked, his eyes having not left the gash since it was first exposed.

Gai cast him a little grin. “Oh right. You don’t know… Well, you see, the daughter of that priestess is a werewolf. Narabus and I used to help keep her under control during full moons while she was getting used to her transformations. Her mother does that now, which is good because a couple years ago she happened to bite me! So now, I’ve got to come here every time there’s a full moon in order to have Fern suck the venom from the wound so that _I_ don’t transform! Werewolves are weird; their venom doesn’t really do anything most of the time. But of course it becomes active around the full moon. As a vampire, Fern can drain my blood and keep the venom from taking hold. But all she can do is delay the transformation… Eventually I’ll change just like all the others.”

Skiz stared, completely baffled by his explanation. It was obvious from the way he and Narabus had been talking about the gash that it was something important, but he hadn’t expected _that_. Gai chuckled at his slack-jawed expression and said something about it not being something he needs to worry about.

“After all, you’re just a guest here. And from what I’ve been told, you have your own problems to be concerned about.” The man stated. “I can’t imagine what having amnesia must be like!”

There was a quick second of silence before Skiz groaned. “Yeah… It’s not great…” he admitted.

Their conversation was interrupted by Phen entering the room and announcing that she was going on up to bed. Her statement seemed to break some spell that had been over the room, and everyone suddenly realized how late it was. The two couples said their good-nights and went upstairs after Phen. Narabus said something about being tired, and Gai agreed with her. Before they left, he told Skiz that they would have to talk more later, after everyone had gotten some sleep. Skiz agreed, now quite curious about the other man and feeling like having somebody else around to chat with would be nice.

He wasn’t surprised to find that Gai followed Narabus up to her room, nor that Skiz was going to be staying next door to the two of them. Gai was a little amused by this, but only said good-night before slipping into her room and leaving Skiz to go back into Aurora’s.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SKIZ AND GAI BROTP FOR LIFE!!!  
> ...Yes that is the reason I was so excited for this chapter.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A day without Narabus around turns out to be a little stranger than Skiz had thought it would be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter this time, but it's the start of...something. I don't want to call it big or important, but it is certainly _something_!

Despite still not being entirely used to her and thus not usually talking to her, Skiz found the lack of Narabus in the main room on Thursday to be…strange. The woman only came downstairs a few times, and that was only to fetch food and/or water which she promptly took back upstairs to Gai. As if to further prove that the day was not a normal one, that afternoon Phen asked for his help in the kitchen.

Phen instructed him carefully on how to help her prep for, of all things, dinner. From the amount of ingredients he could tell that she wasn’t making a lot, and it was different from her usual snacks. When asked, the elf told Skiz that with Gai in the building she now had two people to make sure were fed while everybody was working. She explained that it would be easier to simply make a meal to send upstairs with him and Narabus when opening time came.

When all was said and done, Phen thanked Skiz and tucked the two plates of food into the fridge. After that, she began to hustle about the kitchen to begin her usual prep. Again, Skiz offered to help her, but she merely told him to go back into the main room. Just before he left, she let out a little cry and told him to wait just a moment. Skiz watched as she hurried over to the back door and snatched something off the top of a milk crate full of junk. She handed the folded up paper to him.

“I don’t know if you’ll find any of this interesting, since you have that old computer, but I thought you might want to take a look at the newspaper. I mean, who knows, maybe it’ll help you remember something.” She told him.

“Uh, thanks.” Skiz replied, giving it a quick glance over. “I’ll check it out later.”

“You can just throw that out when you’re done with it.”

“Will do.”

He went back to the main room, and not five minutes later Phen shouted for Anthony and Kaylee to come help her. Anthony groaned heavily, and the couple extracted themselves from the tangled pile they had been in together on a sofa. Without any objection other than a grumbled “Okay, fine!” from the taller woman, the pair went in to help their smallest coworker.

Michele eyed the newspaper when Skiz set it aside. “Saturday is going to be a nightmare…” she muttered softly.

“Hm?”

“You’ll find out soon enough.” She replied.

*****

Skiz had a little company when going back upstairs that night. Narabus had come down in order to fetch Gai’s usual plate of snacks for the night. Instead, she was surprised to see that Phen had actually cooked something up for him. The elf reheated both plates and handed them off to the two along with plenty of water for Gai. As they climbed the stairs together, Narabus had to laugh.

“Tonight might get a bit noisy.” She told him. “Being next door to us, you might hear some things. Sorry in advance, just try to ignore us. Even with my help Gai is going to be in a lot of pain.”

“I see… Well, not much anyone can do about that, right? I don’t really understand what’s going on, but I trust that you do. So thanks for the warning.”

The woman said good night to him outside of his door and proceeded down the hall to hers. Skiz watched her open the door and go in before doing the same himself.

The newspaper turned out to have nothing that he couldn’t readily gather from all the headlines and articles he stumbled across on the internet. Still, reading over somebody else’s opinions on various subjects was at least a way to pass the time. On top of that, Skiz couldn’t help but feel like it had been quite a long time since he had last held, let alone read, any sort printed media that wasn’t one of Aurora’s strange books.

As the sun began to set, Skiz’s ears caught a muffled groan. And sure enough it was the first of many such sounds that night. As the night progressed the sounds gradually grew a little louder and more frequent. Often they were whimpers, whines, muffled sobbing, along with the occasional moan and groan of pain. A couple of times he heard Narabus’s voice cut through the noise, trying to shush and soothe Gai.

But all in all, it wasn’t enough to really disturb him. The walls were thick and the noises were subdued because of it. He felt pangs of pity for the man at first, along with the one time Gai actually yelped loudly, but for the most part everything was easy enough to tune out.

Shortly before midnight, Skiz began to feel bored. He had finished reading the newspaper, or at least the articles that looked even vaguely interesting. There were things he could do on the computer, certainly, but he didn’t feel like looking for them. Somewhere along the line he somehow found himself sitting on the floor messing around with the newspaper. No longer was he paying any attention to the headlines or the comics or the puzzles (some of which he had even tried, but had given up on). Instead, he was beginning to carefully consider each large page and was folding them over each other in a deliberate fashion.

*****

It was Rachele who fetched him after hours. Skiz told her that he would be downstairs in just a minute as he continued to put the finishing touches on what he had been doing. The girl only gave him a nod and let him be. A little smirk painted his face.

“Guess that all but confirms it.” He muttered aloud. “She’s blind. Because anyone else would have asked what this was.”

He held up his creation to inspect it better. It was a bird house. Skiz wasn’t sure how he knew how to make it, but he had managed to crease and fold and layer and wedge pieces of the newspaper together until he had made a simple, probably unusable bird house. It was flimsy and threatened to fall apart just from him picking it up. And yet, he was quite proud of his little creation.

He gingerly placed it on the desk, picked up his empty plate and glass, and left the room.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skiz learns that Michele is apparently a very important person.

Friday morning once again played out much like the day before it. Narabus went downstairs only long enough to fetch water and a quick snack for herself and Gai before dashing back upstairs. When Phen asked how well Skiz had been able to sleep with Gai next door, he reported in all honesty that it wasn’t terrible. He had been woken maybe once because the other man had shrieked in pain, but that was it. Skiz still felt bad for him, but everybody seemed so confident that Narabus was on top of it that he didn’t think too much on it.

Around three in the afternoon, Michele suddenly announced that she was going to start getting ready. She left the main room with Rachele on her heels. It took Skiz a moment to remember that she was supposed to meet with her father for dinner. When he asked what time that was, the answer he got was “she should be leaving around five”.

“Five? Isn’t it a bit early to be getting ready then?” he asked.

“You underestimate how long it will take.” Aurora replied. “Michele spares no expense, be it actual monetary value or time, when it comes to dressing up to meet with her father. Just you wait for her to come downstairs. You won’t recognize her.”

With that said, Skiz became a bit anxious. He found himself trying to picture what Michele was supposed to look like that he wouldn’t recognize her. Nothing he came up with seemed to work at all. In fact, the few things that almost did were so out of character for her that he nearly found himself laughing. The second time he choked back a laugh, he noticed that the other eyes in the room were looking at him quizzically.

“Sorry. I was just trying to picture Michele in a giant princess dress.” He explain, the image of her in something akin to Cinderella’s dress still in his mind.

To his surprise, it wasn’t just Aurora who laughed at that. Both Kaylee and Anthony snorted and stifled laughs of their own. Somehow that made Skiz feel just a little bit proud of himself.

“She would never wear something like that.” Anthony stated. “Not that it’s too girly for her, it just isn’t her style.”

“The only one here who’d wear something like that would be Phen and Aurora.” Kaylee added.

“I’ll have you know that I only wore that dress because Narabus and I made a bet.” Aurora nearly snapped. “And for the record,” he turned a smirk to Skiz, “I looked amazing.”

Skiz cracked up at _that_ particular image as it flooded into his head. Somehow, even with Aurora’s proportions, he couldn’t get something like that to work on the other man. It was about then that Phen peeked into the room with a huge grin on her face.

“Are we talking about dressing up in here?” she giggled.

Anthony rolled her eyes, but a fond smile was painted on her face. “You are such a girl…”

“I can’t help it! Being a girl is my hobby!” Phen declared with another laugh. “Anyway, I have pictures of Aurora in that dress.” A mischievous little smirk played across her features. Skiz’s first instinct was to find such a look unusual on the small girl, but somehow…it suited her all too well. It nearly made him shiver. “In fact, I have a lot of pictures of everyone who works here in somewhat compromising situations. Want me to bring down a photo album or two once I get this next batch of cupcakes in the oven?”

“Please don’t!”

“NO!”

“Why…?

Aurora, Anthony, and Kaylee had all responded in unison with varying levels of horrified looks upon their faces. Phen merely giggled again and stated that it was up to their guest whether or not she did. Once again, all eyes were on Skiz, only this time pleading with him to say no. With such pressure, and not knowing any of them well enough to willingly embarrass them, he decided to go along with their wishes and declined the offer. Phen breathed a disappointed little huff, but she gave a shrug and a smile and returned to her work.

…It wasn’t until close to midnight, when he was again alone in his room, that Skiz realized that that had been the first time he had been able to have a somewhat normal conversation with Anthony and Kaylee.

The rest of his afternoon was passed mostly by himself. He didn’t quite know what to do with himself, so he idly worked on the nearly-finished puzzle that he and the married ladies had been doing together. The minutes ticked by slowly, with Narabus quietly slinking downstairs again to fetch more supplies only once. Sure enough right around five o’ clock Michele and her husband returned downstairs. A little too eager to see what the others had meant about not recognizing her, he jumped to his feet and made to leave the room. He stopped halfway as the woman herself came into the room.

His eyes widened and his jaw dropped at the sight of her. Her hair was neatly pulled away from her face in a pair of braids forming something of a crown around the sides of her head and tied at the back. Whether or not Michele wore make-up on a regular day Skiz didn’t know, but she was definitely dolled up now. Her skin seemed a bit more pale than usual, her lips had a glossy sheen to them, her eyelashes were certainly darker, and her eyeshadow matched the purple of her eyes. Her dress was of course black. It was long and form-fitting and in a word elegant. Like her usual attire it covered most of her skin, showing no cleavage or any part of her back. A pair of black opera gloves made up for the lack of sleeves on her dress and did a good job covering up most of her arms, save for her shoulders. Even the short slit up the side of the skirt was masked by a pair of very black stockings. A surprisingly delicate pair of heels adorned her feet. Interestingly, a thin white belt hung loosely from her slender hips. It almost felt out of place, and Skiz noticed that she had a pair of white knives in their white sheaths fastened to it on one side…which also almost felt out of place. But somehow she pulled it all off. But perhaps the most surprising part of the whole picture was the thin silver tiara that sat perched upon her forehead. Skiz didn’t get a very close look at it, but somehow he knew that it had to be _expensive_ just from the way it gleamed in the light.

“My father said the car is already waiting for me. So I’ll be leaving now.” Michele announced. Whether she noticed or cared about Skiz’s staring, she didn’t let on.

“We’ll hold the floor for you.” Kaylee told her.

“I know.”

Rachele held out a long black coat for her and Michele slipped it on with her help. After that, the pair departed from the room and stepped out the front doors. A couple minutes later, Rachele returned alone. She came back into the main room as if nothing was unusual and sat down in her normal spot. After a moment, Skiz followed her to sit as well, but not before voicing his thoughts.

“Okay, I see what you all meant about not recognizing her. That was _Michele_!?” He got a chorus of laughter as a response, including from the kitchen. “What is she, a celebrity or something?!”

“Of course not.” Rachele answered him.

“Then why is she dressed up like that just to have dinner with her dad!?”

“Because she’s a princess.”

Again Skiz’s jaw dropped. He repeated the word in disbelief, to which Rachele, and everybody else, nodded. Michele. A princess. Working in a hostess club. Full of lesbians.

Skiz couldn’t help but feel like he was in some bizarre alternate reality. Because royalty most certainly did not just casually do something like that where he came from…wherever that was.


End file.
